Hockey Versus Ringette: Informational Essay

Have you ever heard of ringette? Ringette is usually compared to hockey but it’s name has become sour. Ringette is an ice sport played by girls and boys, however it is not featured in the Olympics. I created a small survey to find out what people think they know about ringette and hockey. I also asked people what their first impressions of ringette were. Many youth hockey players were extremely blunt. Exclaiming statements such as, “It’s a poor man’s hockey,” “...such a dumb sport,” “Their sticks are like fire pokers.” Youth who play neither sport were unsure what ringette was. Some even claiming it was a type of figure skating. Most ringette players disagree, defending the sport they love and throwing shade to hockey. Though, older players talked about how hockey is just another sport with different rules and different people. Adults seem to be reasonable when thinking about the idea of ringette. Few would even prefer ringette to hockey! Ringette is just as great as hockey, neither is better and both sports deserve credibility. After all, hockey and ringette allow people to make friends and have fun, and isn’t that what sports are all about?  

One of the biggest differences between hockey and ringette is the item used to score. In hockey this is the puck and in ringette this is the ring. The puck is easier to pass with but the ring is much easier to shoot with. The hockey puck is a flat cylinder made out of solid rubber. The ringette ring is a circular, hollow and rubber disc measuring approximately 15.5 cm in width and 3 cm at its tallest point. The hockey puck is 7cm in width and like the ring it is also 3 cm in height. After throwing a puck and ring with equal power at a brick wall, the puck bounced 177 cm and the ring travelled 205 cm. At Home Hardware a ringette ring costs $8.49 while a hockey puck costs almost $6 less at $2.29, illustrating that supply and demand is not in favour of ringette players and coaches. So, whether you think control or passes are more important, it’s undeniable that the puck and the ring are very different!

One of the reasons that ringette isn’t known by many people are the levels and age groups of the sport. In girls hockey (our Kitchener local league) there are six main age groups: novice, atom, peewee, bantam, midget, and intermediate. In ringette the age categories are sorted differently, they are U7, U8, U9, U10, U12, U14, and U19 teams. Also in ringette local league teams are referred to as regional teams and representative teams are known as provincial teams. For girls hockey, in Kitchener, the rep (representative) opportunities are developmental strand (DS), C, B, BB, A, AA, PWHL (provincial women's hockey league), and the Olympic teams. In ringette the provincial opportunities (for Kitchener) are U12PP, U14A, U16A, U19A, and teams in the NRL (national ringette league). You can see how hockey has many more teams that girls can play on. Boys is a completely different story. In boys hockey the levels for Kitchener rep are minor development (MD), A, AA, AAA, OHL (ontario hockey league), NHL (national hockey league), and the Olympics. In ringette boys are not permitted to play above the regional level. Also while hockey is very common on television and games are easily accessible, ringette is not filmed and thus to watch a ringette game it requires more effort. This could be another reason that ringette is less popular. Even though ringette has a lot of the same levels and age groups as hockey, hockey has much more publicity and boys are completely different all together.

Now let’s tackle the obvious differences between the two sports. First the equipment, the only thing different between a hockey goalie and a ringette goalie is the left hand glove and the helmet. Some ringette goalies use a Keely glove. This is like the traditional blocker but the glove is separated from the protective padding, that is in the shape of a circle. Other goalies use a regular player glove, a gel glove or a catcher's mitt.  All ringette helmet’s must have a triangular cage. This is so that the stick does not poke through the square holes in a tradition hockey mask. Player’s equipment is a little more obvious. Player’s have ringette pants instead of hockey pants and they use girdles instead of jills. The other difference for a player is often made fun of by hockey lovers, it is the stick. A ringette stick is a wooden stick with a rubber tip and usually a little tape wrapped around the top. Gameplay differences include: Halves instead of periods (15:15 vs 10:10:12), reverse off-side pass across blue line to enter in opposing zones, 30 seconds to shoot (shot clock), goalie throws the ring, and no one is allowed within the outer blue crease around the net. However,  the size of ice surface and number of players on ice (5+goalie) are the same. it’s undeniable that there are many more differences than similarities between these two winter sports!

All opinions about hockey and ringette are different and there's no real wrong answer. Seeing both sides of the argument and learning more about ringette hopefully has helped you to realize that hockey and ringette are very different but deserve even integrity. Differences are apparent, from the ring to the puck, halves instead of periods, a shot clock and the equipment. Similarities are few but palpable, like the number of players on the ice, the size of the rink, material of the puck/ring, the need for teamwork and endless fun. So, the decision is up to you, will you favour hockey or lean towards ringette?