About Ringette

The Fastest Game on Ice

Ringette combines the speed of hockey, the team play of soccer, and the fast transitions of basketball and lacrosse making it a fun and challenging sport, and truly the fastest game on ice.   Benefits of Ringette include.....

• Building strong, fit and confident girls
• Start as young as 3 years old
• Learn to skate non-contact sport with full protective equipment
• A full hour filled with fast play, maximum participation, a true team sport
• Play at any level from recreation to competitive
• Become a skilled athlete
• Play locally, provincially, nationally and even internationally
• Any age and physical stage, from 3 - 93

What is Ringette? - A Short Video from Ringette Canada

What Skills will you Gain with Ringette?

Ringette is related to ice hockey in equipment, number and types of players, and playing surface, but differs in rules and approach to the game.

In hockey, puck handling requires agility and concentration. In ringette, the challenge is in catching or "stabbing" the ring. To catch a ring, a player must stab through the hole in the ring with the stick, usually while the player is on the move, a skill that takes years to master.

Once caught, the ring is easier to control than a puck is, but ringette's blue-line rules force more passing. This makes ringette a fast-paced game centered around skating and precision passing. As a result, players learn teamwork; a team cannot depend on one or two dominant players.

And, it is deemed the "fastest game on ice" because of this fact. The lack of "puck"-handling in ringette allows players to focus on improving their skating, which increases the tempo of the game. Increased control over the ring often results in higher scores, despite the ring being larger, lighter, and slower than a puck when shot. Also, players cannot enter the crease so their shots are taken from farther away and must be more precise than in hockey.

Equipment

Required equipment for ringette is similar to hockey:

• ringette stick - are generally lightweight composite or hollow wood, with metal or ridged plastic tips.  Heavily splintered sticks are not permitted.
• ringette ring
• hockey skates - goalies may choose to use goalie skates
• shin pads, worn under the pants (or goalie pads)
• protective girdle with a 'cup' or a 'jill' to protect genitals
• ringette pants - covering pants
• hockey gloves (ringette gloves have been phased out due to lack of hard padding)
• elbow pads
• jersey
• helmet with ringette facemask (must have a triangle bar pattern - either full or half with a plexiglass shield for the eyes; square bars are disallowed because the stick tip can fit through the spaces)
• neck guard
• shoulder pads - in some associations/provinces, shoulder pads are optional after U12.  In Ontario, shoulder pads are necessary until 18+, other provinces may vary
• wrist guards - optional
• mouthguards are highly encouraged

The ringette facemask is much like a hockey one except the bars are spaced so that the end of a ringette stick cannot enter the mask (bars are shaped as triangles, not squares).

Ringette sticks have tapered ends, with plastic or metal tips specially designed with grooves to increase the lift and velocity of the wrist shot.  A ringette stick is also reinforced to withstand the body weight of a player - a ring carrier leans heavily on his/her stick to prevent opposing players from removing the ring.  Sticks are flexible and lightweight to bend without breaking.

Simplified Rules of Ringette

The Playing Surface

• Ringette is played on a rink similar to a hockey rink.
• There are five "free pass circles" on the ice, two in each end and one at centre ice.  Free pass circles are used to start play.  each circle is divided in half, and a team start play with the ring on the ice in their half of the circle.
• The blue lines divide the ice into three zones.  From one team's perspective, there is the offensive zone (the opponent's end), the neutral zone (the middle of the ice), and the defensive zone.  The centre red line is not used in ringette.  Just inside the blue line in each end of the ice, a thin red line runs across the ice, touching the top of the free pass circles in each end.  This line is called the "free play line".
• The goalie's crease is a semi-circle around the goalmouth, eight feet in radius.

The Rink

A. Goaltenders Crease  B. Free Play Line  C.  Blue Line  D. Free Pass Circle

The Players

• A team at regular strength plays with a centre, two forwards (wingers), two defenders and a goaltender.
• Teams can change players on the ice during a stoppage in play, or they can change "on the fly".  If changing on the fly, no ore than the regulation number of players can get involved in the paly, or a penalty is assessed for too many players on the ice.  

Starting Play

• A ringette game is typically organized in two halves of fifteen to twenty minutes duration (depending on the level of play).
• To start play, the referee places the ring on the ice in the visiting team's half of the centre free pass circle.  There are no "offsides" in ringette, so players an line up anywhere on the ice surface.  The referee blows the whistle , and the player in the free pass circle has five seconds to pass the ring into play.  The referee counts the five seconds and signals each passing second by extending the arm.  No player is allowed in the free pass circle except the player making the pass.  The pass must go beyond the free pass circle, and the passer cannot receive her own pass.
• If play is stopped, the referee will award the ring to one team or the other, depending on the reason for the stoppage in play.  Unless a team is awarded the ring in its defensive end, the team puts the ring back into play with a free pass circle nearest to where the stoppage in play was caused.

Starting at U12A (excluding U12B), a 30-second shot clock is introduced.  The clock starts when a team gains possession.  If they have not taken a shot on net within 30 seconds, a horn sounds, and the ring is awarded to the other team.

The Goalie Ring

• No player from either team, except the goaltender, is allowed to enter the goalie's crease, or to play a ring that lies in the crease.  If any part of the ring is touching the crease line, the ring is considered to be in the crease.  
• If a ring enters the crease, the referee will start a five-second count, extending the arm to signal each second. The goalie must put the ring back into play within 5 seconds. Failure to do so will result in a whistle, and a free pass for the offensive side, from one of the free pass circles near the goalie.
• The goalie can throw or pass the ring to a teammate, but she cannot throw or pass the ring to herself, and she cannot throw the ring past her own blue line. The speed with which the ring is returned to play can create some dynamic transitions from defense to offense.
• A goalie cannot draw or carry the ring into her crease from outside the crease. The goalie is allowed to play a ring outside her crease using the blade of her stick (she cannot turn the stick over and stab the ring as if she had a ringette stick).
• If the referee stops play and awards the ring to the team in its defensive zone, instead of a free pass, the referee will award the ring to the goaltender. The referee signals this by raising both arms over the head. When the goalie has the ring in hand, the referee sounds the whistle and begins the five-second count. Since there are no offsides, there is no need to wait for all the players to line up before play can be resumed. Restarting play on a goalie ring is quick, much like a “throw-in” in soccer or basketball, but even faster because it must be done in 5 seconds.

If a team pulls its goalie for an extra skater, one of those skaters can enter the goal crease and play as if she is a goalie.  But she must follow all the rules that a goalie would follow with respect to a goalie ring.

The Blue Lines

• A player skating with a ring cannot carry the ring over a blue line - the ring must be passed across the line to another player. The ring carrier’s feet can cross the blue line, as long as the ring does not cross the blue line.
• A pass cannot cross two blue lines. The referee will call the play, and return the ring to the zone where the pass originated.

The Fee Play Line and the Free Play Zone

• The area from the free play line to the end boards at each end of the rink is called the Free Play Zone. When teams are at full strength, only three skaters from either team are allowed into the free play zone. There is no restriction on which three players can enter the zone, only on the number of players that are in the zone at once.
• There is no restriction on carrying or passing the ring over the free play line. Players can exchange the ring as they enter or leave the free play zone, provided no more than three skaters from the same team are in the zone at the same time.
• If a team has two or more players in the penalty box, then that team is only allowed two players in the free play zone when the ring is in their end. The third skater must remain outside the zone.

If a team pulls its goalie for an extra players, it can put the extra skater in the zone.

Second Possession

• Ringette features fast transitions and rapid-fire passing. The requirement to pass over the blue line and the limitations of the free play line make passing an essential part of the game. No offsides means the ring can be quickly advanced down the ice. The free pass and the goalie ring allow play to be quickly resumed, much like a free kick in soccer.
• The rules of ringette introduce challenges to the game, such as the need for good passing skills, and good conditioning, since the pace is fast.