Hoping for a ringette resurgence

For mothers in northern Ontario with something of an athletic background, it is clearly a catch 22. Growing up in a far different era, when the advent of girls’ hockey was still growing, ringette was the winter sport of choice. Women, like Laura Caldwell, reminisce about favourite memories of their youth from a sport that owes its very existence to a pair of northern Ontario gentlemen — Sam Jacks and Red McCarthy.

With daughters of their own now coming onto the sporting scene, they are understandably torn. While the growth in girls’ hockey has been nothing short of phenomenal over the past decade or so, ringette continues to exist as an option, perhaps to the surprise of some.

“Anyone who has played Lady Wolves before, but is looking for another sport that is challenging, ringette is a great alternative,” Caldwell said. “It has lots of speed and agility involved.”

With a background coaching both house league and provincial calibre ringette teams in the area, Caldwell is one of several women who believes that both ringette and girls’ hockey can co-exist and flourish. The key is to ensure the survival of provincial level teams on a regional basis, providing an avenue for the young ladies who are attracted to more competitive play.

But like other local sports, such as lacrosse and baseball where numbers dictate a certain course of action, suiting up with multiple teams becomes a reasonable solution. “Protocol is that because of the numbers in ringette, if you play competitively, you also play in house league as well,” Caldwell said.

Having just returned from their all-Ontario championships a few weeks back, Caldwell and company are hosting the U12 and U14 tryouts this Friday (April 29) at the T.M. Davies Community Centre. In fact, this will be the first time in a handful of years that the Walden Ringette Association will act as host to locally based provincial A teams.

It is an age grouping that is critical to the growth of ringette, according to Caldwell. “At these ages, the girls are really developing their skills. There is an incredible improvement from the start to finish of the year.”

Part of the reason Caldwell believes both girls’ hockey and ringette can co-exist is due to the varying demands of the respective sports. Rep players will gather typically for a pair of training camp sessions, as well as three tournaments a year, plus provincials.

In the past, the girls’ high school hockey ranks often drew on players with a ringette background to round off their rosters. Caldwell is hoping the reverse can be true moving forward.

“Girls that move from competitive hockey tend to transition to competitive ringette pretty quickly,” she said. “It’s just a matter of picking up the skill with the ring and making a couple of minor adjustments with the rules.”

Despite originating in northern Ontario, ringette is in need of a resurgence in the home of the sport more than any other part of the province.

“Southern Ontario is running strong, but North Bay getting the Worlds (in November of 2013) is great for northeastern Ontario,” Caldwell said.

To that end, even having Lively native Erika Kiviaho named to the Team Ontario roster — which won gold at the Canada Winter Games in Halifax this year — helps to provide tangible goals for aspiring young ringette players in the area.

“Girls that are currently U12, U14, will be attending this event (Worlds) to learn and watch,” Caldwell said. “If we can get provincial teams running in all four of the northern areas (Sudbury, Sault, West Ferris and Timmins), then it will help grow the sport.”

While players with both ringette and hockey backgrounds are welcome to attend the weekend tryouts, Caldwell noted that, much like girls’ hockey, finding goaltenders often becomes the biggest challenge. But tackling challenges is something those passionate with keeping ringette alive know all too well.

Randy Pascal is the founder of SudburySports.com and a contributing sports editor for Northern Life.