Sport is considered a national pastime in Finland and many Finns visit different sporting events regularly. Pesäpallo is the national sport of Finland, although the most popular forms of sport in terms of television viewers and media coverage are ice hockey and Formula One. In spectator attendance, harness racing comes right after ice hockey in popularity.
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 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.
Juhani Jorma Kalevi Wahlsten was a Finnish professional ice hockey player and ice hockey coach who worked as an exercise and gymnastics teacher in Finland. He was also known by the nickname "Juuso". He also established and helped guide the early development of ringette in Finland, the first European country to do so.
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.
Anna Vanhatalo is a Finnish retired ice hockey and ringette player and former member of the Finnish national ice hockey team and the Finnish national ringette team. Representing Finland, she won a bronze medal in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. In 2004 and 2007, she won gold in the World Ringette Championships.
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 World Ringette Championships (WRC) is the premier international competition in ringette and is governed by the International Ringette Federation (IRF). Unlike most international competitions, all of the WRC's elite athletes are female rather than male, one of the sport's distinctive features. Competing nations include: Canada, Finland, United States, Sweden, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, with Team Canada and Team Finland having emerged as the sport's top two competing nations. The 2023 World Ringette Championships will be held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and will be the sport's 60th anniversary.
The 2013 World Ringette Championships was an international ringette tournament and the 10th (X) World Ringette Championships. The tournament was organized by the International Ringette Federation (IRF)and was contested in North Bay, Ontario, Canada, between December 31, 2013, and January 4, 2014. The main competition took place at the North Bay Memorial Gardens.
The 2010 World Ringette Championships was an international ringette tournament and the 9th (IX) World Ringette Championships. The tournament was organized by the International Ringette Federation (IRF) and was contested in Tampere, Finland, between November 1 and November 6, 2010. The main competition took place at the Tampere Ice Stadium. The previous year the 2009 World Junior Ringette Championships took place in Prague, becoming the inaugural event for elite junior ringette athletes, but was organized as a separate event from the World Ringette Championships program.
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.
Susanna "Suski" Tapani is a Finnish multi-sport elite athlete who competes in ice hockey, ringette, and in-line hockey, and is a member of the Finnish national ice hockey team and Finnish national ringette team. She currently plays ice hockey in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) with the Metropolitan Riveters.
The 2017 World Ringette Championships was an international ringette tournament and the 12th (XII) of the World Ringette Championships. The tournament was organized by the International Ringette Federation (IRF) and was contested in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, from November 27 – December 3, 2017, at the Hershey Centre Arena, now renamed the Paramount Fine Foods Centre. Eight of the games were live-streamed online and made available for public viewing.
The 2019 World Ringette Championships was an international ringette tournament and the 13th (XIII) World Ringette Championships. The tournament was organized by the International Ringette Federation (IRF) and was contested in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, from November 25 - December 1, 2019. The main competition took place at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre.
Ringette Finland, is the national governing body for the sport of ringette in Finland and was founded in 1983. It is responsible for the organization and promotion ringette on a nationwide basis and organizes Finland's semi-professional ringette league, SM Ringette, formerly known as Ringeten SM-sarja. In 1986 the organization became a member of the International Ringette Federation which at the time was known as the "World Ringette Council".
Stéphanie Séguin, is an elite level Canadian ringette player who competes as a forward. Séguin currently plays for the Montreal Mission in the National Ringette League (NRL). She has been a member of Canada's national ringette team as a player and coach. In 2023, Séguin is an assistant ringette coach for Team Canada Junior (U21) competing in the 2023 World Ringette Championships.
Anne Pohjola , is an elite Finnish ringette player who plays forward and is a prolific scorer. She has been a member of the Finland national ringette team several times and currently plays in Finland's semi-professional ringette league, SM Ringette. The league is known as the Finnish national ringette league to English speakers.
Marjukka Virta is a retired elite Finnish ringette player who played forward in semi-professional ringette in Finland and for the Finland national ringette team, but now coaches the sport.
SM Ringette, previously "Ringeten SM-sarja", is the elite semi-professional ringette league in Finland's first division and its highest. The league features the best ringette players in Finland and is run by Ringette Finland. The league was known as Ringeten SM-sarja until it was rebranded in 2021 and is known as the "Finnish National Ringette League" by English speakers. The National Ringette League (NRL) is its Canadian equivalent.
Salla Kyhälä,, is a retired elite Finnish ringette player and world champion in both ringette and ice cross downhill. She played semi-pro ringette as a centre for Espoon Kiekkoseura in the elite Finnish semi-professional league, SM Ringette and the Saskatoon Wild and BC Thunder in Canada's semi-pro National Ringette League. Kyhälä was also member of the Finland national ringette team several times.
Lapinlahden Luistin -89 in Lapinlahden, from the municipality Pohjois-Savosta, is a home club specializing in ice sports, whose sports include ice hockey, rinkball and ringette. The club's home arena is the Lapinlahti Ice Hall. The club also has several junior teams in ice hockey and ringette.
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