Ringette

Ringette is a Canadian team sport that was invented in 1963 by Sam Jacks, a recreation director and sports enthusiast from North Bay, Ontario. Ringette was born after Sam Jacks saw a need for a winter team sport for girls. Interestingly enough, Sam Jacks was also responsible for the development and introduction of floor hockey in 1936.

Originally play centered mainly in Ontario and Quebec, but quickly spread throughout the country and is now played in every province except Newfoundland, as well as in the Territories. The sport currently boasts over 30,000 registered players on over 2000 teams, with over 8000 coaches and over 1500 officials. While it is primarily a female sport, there are currently over 700 males playing ringette across the country.

Internationally, ringette is played in a number of countries around the world, including Finland, Sweden, the United States, France, Slovakia, Russia, the Czech Republic, Japan, Australia, Germany, New Zealand and Abu Dubai. Since 1990, a world ringette championship has been held on a regular basis, with Canada and Finland being the predominant challengers. Canadian ringette athletes have continuously served as ambassadors of the sport, introducing ringette in countries across the world.

Over the years, ringette has noted many achievements and accomplishments. These include the establishment of a Hall of Fame, which recognizes outstanding ringette achievements and contributions to the development of the sport; the introduction of a Learn to Skate Program for four to six year olds; a successful National Team Program; the introduction of a U19 program; the development of programs such as the National Coaching Certification Program and the National Officiating Certification Program; the development and implementation of a comprehensive Long Term Athlete Development model and a Come Try Ringette recruitment system; and an expanding National Ringette League

Ringette has been part of the Canada Winter Games since 1991 when the event was held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. 

Ringette was first contested at the Canada Games in 1991 in Charlottetown, PEI. Below are the ranking of the Provinces/Territories since the inaugural games:

Ringette is played on ice with skates and sticks by six players (five skaters and a goalie) on each of two teams. The mission is to score goals by shooting the object of play into nets at either end of the rink during stop-time periods of play. The stick is straight, the object being pursued by players is a rubber ring, there is no intentional body contact, and the rules of ringette make it a wide-open and dynamic sport.

The emphasis is on play-making and skating skills. Players cannot carry the ring across the blue lines on the ice. Only three players from each team, plus the defending goalie, are allowed in the end zones at the same time, which keeps the play open, puts a premium on sharp offensive moves, and requires defending players to skate close to their opponents. These features of the game demand the development of keen skating skills that give ringette players fantastic skating speed and agility.

In 2000, a 30-second shot clock was introduced to make the game even faster. The shot clock starts when a team gains possession of the ring, and if they have not taken a shot on the net within 30 seconds, a horn sounds and the ring is then awarded to the opposing team.

The equipment used to play ringette includes skates, gloves, elbow pads, knee and shin pads, long pants, a helmet with a triangular spaced face mask to prevent the bladeless ringette stick from penetrating it, a neck guard, a jersey and a ringette stick.

Technology used within the sport of ringette includes the shot clock, the ringette ring and the ringette stick, which were both mentioned above. In the past ten years, the tip of the ringette stick has witnessed a rapid evolution, with the goal of improving a player’s shot.