European ringette trip a real eye-opener

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/10/2016 (3517 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When some of our River East ringette players visited Europe this past summer, they saw what their sport looks like in different countries.  

The two teams experienced ringette in the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland and Iceland and there were definitely differences between each but they also all had somethings in common.
In the Czech Republic, ringette has only been played for three years, compared to 50 in Canada (and we do have the advantage of having invented the sport).  A shining example of the difference between the countries was the equipment players were using.  

The Canadians had the best of everything — new skates, gloves, sticks, ringette pants, ringette helmet cages, and ringette goalie equipment. While most of the Czechs had the basic equipment, it’s not as easy to come by. They struggle to find sticks, and cages and ringette goalie trappers were unheard of.  

Another sure sign ringette was new to the Czech Republic was that ringette lines were not included on the ice surfaces. The free play line was there but the goalie crease had to be spray-painted on.

Ringette in Sweden is more similar to ringette in Canada. However, the two Winnipeg teams only had the opportunity to play two Quebec teams so they really didn’t get a chance to see Swedish ringette.

In Finland, the Winnipeg teams were able to play four Finnish teams which play in their own league throughout the year. The Finnish teams were amazing, had incredible speed, picked up passes unbelievably, and made phenomenal plays. Our Winnipeg girls were able to see and experience some remarkable ringette in Finland and they strove to compete.  

The difference between Czech ringette and Finnish ringette was noticeable but it also showed how this sport can develop if given the chance.  

As I have previously written, the game in Iceland was the first ringette game to be played in that country. The teams from Manitoba combined to play a team from Calgary and it was a lot of fun.

One thing all the European countries had in common was rink size. They all use Olympic-sized ice surfaces, which are much bigger than the surfaces we play on.  

This meant the Canadians had to adjust to more space to skate in as well as more space to defend.  

The trip enabled these lucky ringette players to see and experience the game they love at its various stages of maturity. They were also able to make connections with people from different countries based on the love of the game of ringette, something they won’t quickly forget.

Suzanne Dyck is a community correspondent for River East.