bruins72 wrote:To be honest with you guys, I had never heard of ringette until I saw this thread. I had to look it up on wikipedia to find out what you guys are talking about. So basically, it's like hockey with a ring instead of a puck and no blade on your stick? Not to be a jerk but why didn't they just stick with hockey? Or is there more of a difference that I'm not seeing?
Becuase of special rules, its a luch faster team oriented game.
The games are similar, but different! lol!
BOTH GAMES ARE GREAT
Heres a page I made on my PCR website about the basics:
http://www.ringuettepointeclaire.ca/ringette101.html
In a nutshell....
You cant carry the ring over the blue line, you have to pass over each one. this means lots of passing and no end to end rushes by ringers. You can then cherry pick, but its a strategy that leaves you really vulnerable defensively.
You can only put three defenders or attackers in the offensive zone. This offensive zone is marked by a 'ringette line' on top of the face off circles, so basically about 60% of the zoenj inside a blue line. You can cycle players in and out of the zoen but cant put more than 3 in it. When you have a single penalty you can still put 3 defenders in your zone, but with 2 players in box you can only put 2! When you pull your goalie you CAN put 4 in the offensive zone.
BELOW GRAPHIC WILL SHOW RINGETTE LINES ON TOP OF FACE OFF CIRCLES
Strategically since normally its your forwards in the offensive zone, its tough to utilize offensively gifted defenders. Good teams will be able to cycle them in.
If the ring is inside the goalie crease, touching it in any way, only the goalie can touch it. So if the goalie makes a save and the ring is lying beside her on a wide open side but in the crease not a defending player or attacker can touch it. Makes it tough to score! The goalie then has 5 seconds once they pick up ring to throw it out. (Thats why many goalies use broomball gloives instead of trappers so they can throw the ring.
BELOW SHOWS A GOALIE FORM OUR ARCH RIVALS 4 CITES WHO YOU WILL SEE HAS THE BLUE RING IN HER CATCHIGN HAND AND IS ABOUT TO PLAY IT. IN THE SPAN OF A FEW SECONDS HER TEAM HAS GONE FROM STOPPING A SCORING PLAY BY HER MAKING A SAVE AND NOW IS TURNING IT OVER TO OFFENCE
Oh, you cant even skate through the crease even, a skate in the crease means a stoppag eof play and a free ring awarded.
There are no face offs, instead there are 'free rings'. If one team shoots it out into the crowd of thier own zone, the attacking team gets one player in the face off circle who once the whistle blows ins in control of the ring. No other players can enter that circle until she shoots it out of the ring. So basically a free ring is a free shot on net or a play set up. When you have a key face off in your zone in hockey, you can still wint the draw to get it out, when you have an opponents free ring in your own zone, you have given up a scoring chance! Teams have set plays on free rings and usually it depends what 3 player defensive zone coverage the other team is using.
You can screen the goalie, but you cant look behind you while you are doing it. Thats interference!
On free rings, like soccer one team starts each half with the free ring at center. (Visitors in 1st half, home in second) If you give up a goal you start with free ring at center.
You are actually allowed to check, actually SLASH the opponents stick to get ring off them. Just dont high stick on your backhand and dont slash the hands.
BELOW SHOWS MY DEFENDER MICHELLE GETTING CHECKED BY TWO 4 CITE PLAYERS. NOTE THEY ARE WORKING ON HER STICK AND SLASHING AT IT. LUCKILY FOR ME, MICHELLE IS SOLID!
Theres no checking but a hell of alot of 'coinicidental contact'.
BATDAD is bang on that the game has a violence all its own! Add the aforementioned slashing/stick check factor to push the envelope.
Forechecking a player who has the ring firmly speared is difficult, my own team strategy is to forecheck with two players and they go in extremely agressively. Tapping the puck off the stick is easier to strip it off a defender!
An interesting rule that maybe only coaches will understand makes it difficult, you cant jump over the boards to get on the ice, you HAVE to use the doors. Turst me, this one makes line changes harder and effects often strategy.
In many leagues and in particular tournaments theres a shot clock, once you get posession you have to take a shot ON GOAL in 30 seconds or its blown down and turned over to the other team. If you shoot and miss the net, its not a shot on goal. This also means when you are trying to defend a lead and have posession, you cant skate circles for more than 30 seconds, you have to actually do something! (I HATE THE SHOT CLOCK!! LOL!)
BELOW, ONE OF MY CENTERS AMANDA BREAKS IN ON A RARE SITE, A GOALIE WITH A TRAPPER! NOTE THE SHOT CLOCK SHOWING 26 SECONDS LEFT. WE OBVIOUSLY PICKED UP THE RING FORM A NEAR CENTER TURNOVER, HENCE THE BIG AMOUNT OF TIME TO SHOOT. SHE SCORED BY THE WAY ON HTIS PLAY ON THE SHORT SIDE GLOVE!
Because of the long bombing passes and no contact, skating is a premium, skaters spin o rama and draw the ring close to thier body as they skate full speed to the net.
Getting a pass is called 'spearing the ring' it is extremely hard to do. Doing it at full speed or from a pass behind you is a skill you have to learn. The ring is hollow, so unlike a puck, when you tap it forward or kick it with your skate it usually doenst go where you want it to! We ususally play a ringette game once a year a boys hockey team of one of the girls brothers teams and the boys even after 40 minutes realize that its not fiar to compare the games and its hard, especially spearing and shooting..
Over the past 5 year s or so, womens hockey means alot of ringette players go to hockey or play both. The most common thing you hear is that ringette players are always the best skaters on the hockey teams. When girls come the other way, from hockey to ringette often the learning curb, mostly becuase of spearing and skating is much longer then when they switch to hockey from ringette.
I suppose to people south of the border might think its like baseball and softball. But there are many more different rules. Although if you have player baseball and softball youll know theres a HUGE difference between those games! (Try to hit a softball when your used to baseballs!!)
If you want to see what is a SPECTACULAR ringette goal check this: UNDERSTAND HOW SHE CAUGHT THE PASS IN THE AIR IS AMAZING!! But really it shows you how fast the game is.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=I-imWSH4vSo
This is another good example of how good teams move the ring fast in the offensive zoen and youll see the 3 player limit in the zone. Youll see one pass where the white player passes across the rink as she exits zoen to a player just entering it. Timing is critical
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QhnknjGueco&feature=related
Finally at a younger more lower category youll see a team breaksout and have to pass over each blue line to score:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jTbS-S_9Dz4&feature=related
