This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(August 2023)
This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: team sections need to be split into Wiki articles. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(August 2023)
A 2018 game between the Atlantic Attack and Richmond Hill Lightning.
The National Ringette League (NRL) (French: Ligue Nationale de Ringuette, LNR) is the premier league for the sport of ringette in North America and Canada's national league for elite ringette players aged 18 and up. The NRL is not a women's variant of a more well-known men's league or sport like professional women's ice hockey or bandy; one of ringette's distinctive features is that all of its players are girls and women. As such, the NRL is the continent's first and only winter team sports league whose entire athlete roster is made up of women.
The NRL is semi-professional and operates as a showcase league for ringette in North America. The league functions as a committee under Ringette Canada, a non-profit sports organization and Canada's national governing body for ringette. It's Finnish equivalent is the SM Ringette league in Finland.
Ringette is a Canadian sport that was first introduced in 1963 in North Bay, Ontario.[1] For ten years, play was confined to Ontario and Quebec; however, the sport spread quickly and is now played by over 30,000 players and involves over 50,000 participants across Canada.[2] The success of the 2002 World Ringette Championships in Edmonton, Alberta, where Canada won the gold medal, sparked the desire to create the National Ringette League. Former Team Canada goaltender, Keely Brown, was a key figure in getting the NRL established.[3] The NRL was founded in 2002 and began play the following year, with November 2004 marking the start of its official inaugural season.[4] The first NRL season included seventeen teams in three cross-country divisions.[5]
The National Ringette League playoffs at the Canadian Ringette Championships (CRC) began in 2008 when they replaced the national championships for Under-19 years and Open divisions.[6] Playoffs are held annually at CRCs to determine an annual league champion. Historically, they consisted of knockout matches, round robins, and tournaments in various cities, but currently the tournament takes place in just one city. The winning National Ringette League team is awarded with the Jeanne Sauvé Memorial Cup, named after Canada’s first female Governor General.
A 2009 episode of Rick Mercer Report called "Ringette Night In Canada" featured the NRL's Cambridge Turbos.[7] In 2013, Télé Québec broadcast a short documentary film titled 'Tout le monde dehors - La Ringuette', which focused on the NRL's Gatineau Fusion, along with Yvon Brault, who devotes his life to this sport.[8]
Structure and competition
Teams compete in two conferences: the Western Conference, which consists of teams from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, and the Eastern Conference, which is further divided into Red and White sub-conferences and includes teams from Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada. Currently the league operates based on hub-style tournaments, and a team can expect to host 1-2 such tournaments a season, while traveling for an additional 4-5.[9] NRL games are divided into four 13-minute periods.[10]
Characteristic of North American sports, the NRL is a closed league with no relegation. There is an annual draft in between seasons, which is the main entry for new players in the league. The NRL runs four regional drafts; in 2011, there was one for the region of Ottawa and Gatineau,[11] another one for Manitoba,[12] another for Southern Ontario,[13] and another for the Montreal region.[14] Trading among teams is also common.[15]
Some players are selected from the league to help form Canada's national ringette teams, while the league also draws some international players, especially from Finland. In some cases, players have been traded between clubs in Canada's NRL to Ringette Finland's semi-professional ringette league, SM Ringette (formerly called Ringeten SM-sarja[fi]), and vice versa.
The NRL maintains a collaboration with the lower Ringette leagues in regards to the development of the young female players, therefore several teams of the NRL have affiliated development teams for Under 19 years old and Under 16 years old. The Canadian Ringette Championships for U16 and U19 takes place in the same place as the NRL playoff tournament elimination.[16][17] It is this tournament which allows the tracers and talent scouts for the NRL teams to identify emerging young athletes as potential future NRL players.
In 2008, the budget of each NRL team varied between $15,000 and $20000.[18] The teams and the league contribute to cover all the transport spending, accommodation, and rent of arenas. The players must find their own financiers to pay for their equipment and personal spending and the players are not paid for play.
Background
Over thirty different teams have competed in the NRL since it began in 2004. For the 2021-22 season, there were 12 teams playing in a hub format, down from 15 teams from the previous year, due to COVID-19. The Cambridge Turbos have won the most NRL titles. The Lower Mainland Thunder in British Columbia[19] and the Ottawa Ice in Ontario[19] are the only now-defunct NRL teams in league history to have won a Canadian Ringette Championship along with the Jeanne Sauvé Memorial Cup, and the league's national championship gold medal. The LMRL Thunder won in 2011–12, and the Ottawa Ice won the league title in 2013–14.[20] Both the LMRL Thunder and the Ottawa Ice won the NRL championship once in their team's history while their clubs were active.[21]
For the 2005–06 season, the league had 19 teams competing in four divisions.[22] The Eastern Conference in 2005-06 included the Ontario and Québec divisions. Ontario teams included the Cambridge Turbos, Gloucester Devils, Ottawa Ice, Richmond Hill Lightning and Waterloo Wildfire. The Ottawa Ice was an expansion team. The Québec division included the BLL Nordiques (who later became the Bourassa Royal) the Cyclones de Québec, the Montreal Mission, and Rive–Sud Revolution, all returning from the previous season. Teams in the Central Division included the APFG Sixers, BoniVital Angels, Eastman Flames, Hix with Stix, and Manitoba Moose. The Western Division included the returning league champion, the Edmonton WAM!, the Calgary RATH, BC Reign, the Saskatoon Wild, and the previous year's wild card team, the Edmonton Edge. With nineteen teams competing, it was this NRL season which recorded the highest number of teams competing in the NRL in a single season in league history. The 2005–06 NRL season also marked the inaugural season of the NRL Championship.
The NRL Championship, which crowns the team champion of the league, is played annually by the eight best teams in the league at the Canadian Ringette Championships in the National Ringette League division.
History
In 2010–11, the introduction of a new NRL Championship Tournament replaced the Championship qualifying rounds. The tournament took place in just one city. The format was intended to allow the league to create a media event and to hold attention. The top ten teams in the regular season of the league participated in the tournament.
Starting in 2011–12, eight teams play a full round robin to determine the champion, also called the Elite Eight.
At the end of March, during the week break before the National Ringette League Championships, the League names its annuals Award Nominees. Award winners are announced at the closing banquet of the Canadian Ringette Championships. The awards program recognizes the performance of NRL athletes during regular season play with trophies for:
As of the 2022–23 season, there are 13 teams in the NRL, all of them based in Canada. The number of teams in the NRL can vary from season to season, as new teams may be added or existing teams may withdraw. However, the league typically has around 15-20 teams competing in a given season.
Current teams
This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: Missing team's founding years. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(October 2022)
The Edmonton Black Gold Rush, (commonly called "The Rush" or "Rushies"), is a ringette team in the National Ringette League (NRL) based in Edmonton, Alberta. The team competes in the NRL Western Conference and was founded in 2015.
The following is the Rush roster for the 2022–23 season.
The Nepean Ravens is a ringette team in the National Ringette League (NRL) based in Nepean, Ontario (Ottawa). The team competes in the NRL Eastern Conference in the Red Division and was founded in 2021.
The following is the Ravens roster for the 2022–23 season.[24][31]
Nepean Ravens 2022–23
No
Player
Position
K Gagnier (AP/GUEST)
T forrest (AP/GUEST)
R Steckly (AP/GUEST)
J Wilson (AP/GUEST)
2
Amanda Law (Rookie)
Defence
3
C Chestnut (AP/GUEST)
4
Olivia Edissi
Defence
5
Laiya Evraire (Rookie)
Forward
9
Josiane Labelle (Rookie)
Forward
11
Allison Biewald
Forward
12
Amanda Gour
Defence
13
Samantha Jones
Defence
14
Molly Lewis
Forward
16
Brooke Wasylyshyn (Rookie)
Forward
17
Emma Kelly
Forward
19
Jalena Marelic
Forward
21
Rebecca Bastien
Defence
23
Abby Manson
Forward
25
Alyssa Wong (Rookie)
Defence
30
Rachael Pelisek
Goalie
32
E Harvie (AP/GUEST)
Goalie
Gatineau Fusion
It has been suggested that this section be split out into another articletitled Gatineau Fusion. (Discuss) (March 2023)
The Gatineau Fusion is a ringette team in the National Ringette League (NRL) based in Gatineau, Quebec. The team competes in the NRL Eastern Conference in the Red Division and was founded in 2008.[32]
The following is the Fusion's roster for the 2022–23 season.[33]
The Rive-Sud Révolution[fr],[27][34] ("South Shore Revolution" in English), is a ringette team in the National Ringette League (NRL) based in Montérégie, the southwestern part of Québec. The Revolution competes in the NRL Eastern Conference in the White Division and was founded in 2004. The Revolution is one of the oldest teams in the NRL.
The team's home arena is in Québec and its headquarters are located in South Shore, Montreal. The South Shore is located within the Quebec administrative region of Montérégie. Its team affiliate is the U19 South Shore Revolution.
The Revolution began competing for their 16th year as a club during the NRL 2022-23 season. The following is the Révolution's roster for the 2022–23 season.[35]
National Ringette League (NRL) champions compete annually at the Canadian Ringette Championships at the end of the NRL season. The 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
List of NRL champions by season
List of Jeanne Sauvé Memorial Cup winners at the Canadian Ringette Championships:
The table below provides a chronological list of Jeanne Sauvé Memorial Cup winners at the Canadian Ringette Championships and the NRL's teams who won the gold, silver, and bronze medals.[37][38]
The 2003–04 NRL season marked the National Ringette League's inaugural year with 17 teams competing across Canada.[which?] The competition was referred to as the "Open Division" and took place in Waterloo, Ontario.[40]
The 2005–06 season marked the NRL's second season with 19 teams competing and two new teams joined the league, one of which was the Ottawa Ice.[which?][22][21] These teams were distributed in four conferences: the West Conference (five teams), Central Conference (five teams), Ontario Conference (five teams), and Quebec Conference (four teams). The dominant teams were the Cambridge Turbos in the Ontario Conference, Montreal Mission in the Quebec Conference, Edmonton WAM! in the West Conference, and the champions of the Central Division, the APFG Sixers (Assiniboine Park/Fort Garry, an AA provincial team from Manitoba).
In 2006–07, the NRL entered its third season and consisted of 16 teams distributed in three conferences: the West Conference (seven teams), Ontario Conference (five teams), and Quebec Conference (four teams).[21] The 2006–07 NRL Championship finals were played as the "Open Division" at the 2007 Canadian Ringette Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia.[43] The Championship final match took place in on April 10, 2007, and was won by the Edmonton WAM!.
In 2007–08, seventeen teams competed in two conferences. The Western Conference included seven teams and the Eastern Conference included ten teams.[21] The Cambridge Turbos won the NRL Championship by beating the Montreal Mission 2–1 in overtime.[44][45]
In 2008–09, the NRL consisted of eighteen teams grouped in a Western Conference with six teams and an Eastern Conference with twelve teams.[47][21] The 2008–09 NRL season final took place at the 2009 Canadian Ringette Championships in Charlottetown, PEI, with the Cambridge Turbos finishing in first place.[48][49][50][51]
In the 2009–10 season, the National Ringette League for its sixth season with eighteen teams competing.[21] The league consisted of a Western Conference with six teams and an Eastern Conference with twelve teams. The NRL playoffs took place in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, during the Canadian Ringette Championships.[55] The Edmonton WAM! became the NRL champions again after being eclipsed for two years by the Cambridge Turbos. Edmonton beat Cambridge 2–0 in the NRL league division final.[56][57]
The 2011–12 regular season began on October 15, 2011, and concluded on March 18, 2012. All in all, thirty matches were contested by each of the teams during the regular season. Each of the teams only faced teams within their own conference. This structure allowed teams to reduce the costs of transport given the size of the Canadian territory covered by the league. At the end of the regular season, there is a break of a week when the various individual distinctions are awarded, then a National Ringette League Championship Tournament. This is the year the Elite Eight began.
The 2021–22 season saw the league begin playing in a hub-format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the league previously played 15 teams, it was reduced to 12 for the season. 5 teams had withdrawn, including: BC Thunder, Bourassa Royal, Richmond Hill Lightning, Lac-Saint-Louis Adrenaline, and the Ottawa Ice. However, two new teams joined: the Nepean Ravens and the Saskatchewan Heat. The Manitoba Intact were renamed the Manitoba Herd.
The season's winners were the Calgary RATH, runners-up were the Edmonton WAM!, and the Cambridge Turbos finished in third.[71]
Over thirty teams have competed in the NRL during different periods of the league's existence.[72] The first NRL season began in November 2004 with 17 teams.[citation needed] During the second NRL season in 2005–06, two new teams joined the league bringing the league total to nineteen.[22] The teams were then divided into four conferences. However, during the off season, three teams folded, citing low attendance revenue.[citation needed] While the Manitoba Jets and Manitoba Prairie Fire teams folded, a new team was later created in the province in their stead, the Manitoba Intact, which competed in the NRL Western Conference. For the 2021–22, the Intact were renamed the "Manitoba Herd".
For the 2021–22 season, the National Ringette League had a number of teams withdraw from the league for various reasons, primarily due to COVID-19. For the prior 2020-21 season, the NRL had fifteen teams competing, with the BC Thunder failing to put forward a team and withdrawing. In 2021–2022 a new team was formed in Ontario, the Nepean Ravens, and the NRL returned to Saskatchewan with a new team, the Saskatchewan Heat. For the 2022-23 season, the BC Thunder rejoined the league.
(* = returned to league)
National Ringette League teams
NRL team history as of 2022-23 season
TOTAL
Total current (13)
Total defunct or inactive (22)
British Columbia
Current (1)
Defunct/Inactive (4)
* BC Thunder (returned to league after 2021-22 withdrawal)
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(March 2022)
It has been suggested that this article should be split into a new article titled NRL regular season. (discuss) (February 2023)
Initial record was from 2007–08 season.[74]Stats updated as of end of 2017–18 season. Teams in italics no longer compete in the National Ringette League as of the 2021-22 season.
Terry McAdam from Saskatchewan was inducted into the Ringette Canada Hall of Fame in 2021.[79][80] McAdam was instrumental in helping begin the development of the National Ringette League as well as one of its first teams, the Saskatoon Wild.[81] During its time in the NRL, the Wild had also acquired Erin Cumpstone.[82][83]
Salla Kyhälä is one of a number of ringette players from Finland who competed in the NRL. Kyhälä played for the now defunct NRL team, the Saskatoon Wild,[84] and also played for the Finland national ringette team and SM Ringette
The Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) is a national Major Junior Canadian football league consisting of 19 teams playing in five provinces across Canada. The teams compete annually for the Canadian Bowl. Many CJFL players move on to professional football careers in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and elsewhere.
Ringette is a non-contact winter team sport played on an ice rink using ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice surfaces. While the sport was originally created exclusively for female competitors, it has expanded to now include participants of all gender identities. Although ringette looks ice hockey-like and is played on ice hockey rinks, the sport has its own lines and markings, and its offensive and defensive play bear a closer resemblance to lacrosse or basketball.
The Bourassa Royal or Le Royal de Bourassa is a Canadian ringette team in Canada's National Ringette League (NRL) which competes in the Eastern Conference in the White division. Founded in 2004 and based in Quebec, the team recruits players from Bourassa-Laval-Lanaudière. The team has been inactive in the recent years of the NRL.
The Montréal Mission is a ringette team in the National Ringette League (NRL), competing in the White Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded in 2004. The team gathers its players from the region of Montréal, Québec, and plays its home games at Centre Étienne Desmarteau.
The Cambridge Turbos is a ringette team in the National Ringette League (NRL) competing in the Eastern Conference's Red Division. Founded in 2003, the is team based in Cambridge, Ontario. The Turbos home arena is the Hespeler Memorial Arena, a facility which is a twin sheet arena with two Olympic-sized sheets of ice.
The prominent women's sports leagues in the United States and Canada serve as the pinnacle of women's athletic competition in North America. The United States is home to the vast majority of professional women's leagues. In North America, the top women's leagues feature both team sports and individual athletes. While some leagues have paid professional women athletes, others do not and function at a semi-professional level.
Julie Blanchette is an elite level Canadian ringette player who has also worked as a trainer and coach and served as the captain of several ringette teams including Team Canada. Blanchette plays for the Montreal Mission of the National Ringette League and has also been a member of the Canadian national ringette team as both player and coach.
The Ringette World Club Championship (RWCC) was an international ringette competition organized by the International Ringette Federation (IRF). It featured the top teams from Canada's National Ringette League (NRL), Finland's Ringeten SM-sarja, and Sweden's Ringette Dam-SM. The World Club Championship was only held twice, the first time in 2008 and the last time in 2011.
The 2016–17 National Ringette League season for the sport of ringette was the 13th season of the National Ringette League and began on October 2, 2016 and ended on April 1, 2017.
Canadian Ringette Championships, (French: Championnats Canadien d'Ringuette), sometimes abbreviated CRC, is Canada's annual premiere national ringette tournament for the best ringette players and teams in the country. It encompasses three age/class divisions: Under-16 (U16), Under-19 (U19) and the seasonal championship for Canada's National Ringette League (NRL). The competition is usually held in the month of April. The first CRC was held in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1979. The National Ringette League playoffs are the knockout match, round robin and tournament for determining the champion for National Ringette League.
2018 Canadian Ringette Championships was 40th edition of Canadian Ringette Championships. It was a national ringette tournament held from April 9 to April 14, 2018 at Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The Atlantic Attack is a ringette team in the Canadian National Ringette League (NRL) that mostly consists of players from Atlantic Canada and is based in Dieppe, New Brunswick. The team competes in the Eastern Conference in the White division and was founded in 2011. Its home arena is in Cocagne, New Brunswick. In their 7th season, the Atlantic Attack won their first National Ringette League Playoff title. In the past the Attack also competed against Bourassa Royal before that NRL team was discontinued.
The 1990 World Ringette Championship was an international ringette tournament and the first World Ringette Championship in history. Three countries took part: Canada, Finland, and the United States. The tournament was organized by the World Ringette Council, the precursor to the International Ringette Federation (IRF). The event was held in the Canadian city of Gloucester, Ontario from January 29 to February 3, 1990, with eight competing teams at Earl Armstrong Arena.
Ringette in Canada began in 1963 when it was first conceptualized by Sam Jacks of North Bay, Ontario, in West Ferris. The sport of ringette is played in all 10 Canadian provinces and the Northwest Territories and involves an average of over 31,000 registered players every year. Canada is the location of ringette's origin where it is also recognized as a national heritage sport. The sport is governed nationally by Ringette Canada. Canadian provinces and territories have their own individual governing bodies in their respective jurisdictions.
Ringette Canada is the national governing body for the sport of ringette in Canada. It was established in 1974 with June Tiessen as its first President and has its current headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario. It is responsible for the organization and promotion of ringette on a nationwide basis and organizes Canada's semi-professional ringette league, the National Ringette League (NRL) which was established in 2004, with the league functioning as a committee under Ringette Canada.
The Calgary RATH is a ringette team in the National Ringette League's (NRL) Western Conference. The team is based in Calgary, Alberta.
Ringette at the 2023 Canada Winter Games took place in Prince Edward Island at the Cavendish Farms Wellness Centre in Montague, and the MacLauchlan Arena in Charlottetown at the University of Prince Edward Island. The event ran from Sunday, February 19, 2023, to Saturday, February 25, 2023.
The BC Thunder is a ringette team in the National Ringette League's (NRL) Western Conference. The team is based in Richmond, British Columbia.
The Edmonton WAM! is a ringette team in the National Ringette League's (NRL) Western Conference. The team is one of two NRL teams based in Edmonton, Alberta, with the other being the Edmonton Black Gold Rush. Their other provincial rival is the Calgary RATH.
The Manitoba Herd is a ringette team in the National Ringette League's (NRL) Western Conference. The team is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The team was previously called the Manitoba Intact.
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2022–23 NRL season 
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