The National Ringette League (NRL) ''()'' is the premier league for the sport of

ringette Ringette is a 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 c ...

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 and non-binary athletes. 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 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 organizatio ...

, a non-profit sports organization and Canada's national governing body for ringette. Its Finnish equivalent is the SM Ringette league in Finland.

League history

Ringette Ringette is a 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 c ...

is a Canadian sport that was first introduced in 1963 in

North Bay, Ontario North Bay is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of Nipissing District and takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing. It developed as a railroad centre and its airport was an important military locatio ...

. For ten years, play was confined to

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

and

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

; however, the sport spread quickly and is now played by over 30,000 players and involves over 50,000 participants across Canada. 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 Canadian National Team or Team Canada may refer to: Canada at multi-sport events * Canada at the Olympics ** Canadian Olympic Committee * Canada at the Paralympics ** Canadian Paralympic Committee * Canada at the Commonwealth Games * Canada at ...

goaltender, Keely Brown, was a key figure in getting the NRL established. The NRL was founded in 2002 and began play the following year, with November 2004 marking the start of its official inaugural season. The first NRL season included seventeen teams in three cross-country divisions. The National Ringette League playoffs at the

Canadian Ringette Championships Canadian Ringette Championships (), 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 ...

(CRC) began in 2008 when they replaced the national championships for Under-19 years and Open divisions. 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 Ringette is a 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 c ...

, named after Canada's first female

Governor General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

. A 2009 episode of

Rick Mercer Report ''Rick Mercer Report'' (also called the ''Mercer Report'' or ''RMR'') is a Canadian television comedy series which aired on CBC Television from 2004 to 2018. Launched as ''Rick Mercer's Monday Report'', or simply ''Monday Report'', by comedian ...

called "Ringette Night In Canada" featured the NRL's Cambridge Turbos. 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.

Structure and competition

Teams compete in two conferences: the Western Conference, which consists of teams from

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Alberta,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

, and

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

, and the Eastern Conference, which is further divided into Red and White sub-conferences and includes teams from

, Quebec, and

Atlantic Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (), is the list of regions of Canada, region of Eastern Canada comprising four provinces: New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. As of 2021, the landma ...

. 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. NRL games are divided into four 13-minute periods. Characteristic of North American sports, the NRL is a closed league with no

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

. 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 Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

and

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region of Quebec and is also p ...

, another one for

, another for Southern

, and another for the

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

region. Trading among teams is also common. 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 Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. In some cases, players have been traded between clubs in Canada's NRL to

Ringette Finland 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 ring ...

's semi-professional ringette league, SM Ringette (formerly called ), 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

for U16 and U19 takes place in the same place as the NRL playoff tournament elimination. 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.Le Fusion de Gatineau lance sa saison inaugurale
/ref> 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 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. The Cambridge Turbos have won the most NRL titles. The Lower Mainland Thunder in

and the Ottawa Ice in

are the only now-defunct NRL teams in league history to have won a Canadian Ringette Championship along with the

, 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. Both the LMRL Thunder and the Ottawa Ice won the NRL championship once in their team's history while their clubs were active. For the 2005–06 season, the league had 19 teams competing in four divisions. 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. National Ringette League 01

NRL National Championship format

The NRL Championship, which crowns the team champion of the league, is played annually by the eight best teams in the league at the

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.

Awards and honours

Jeanne Sauvé Memorial Cup

The final competition for the National Ringette League is held annually at the

. The

is the championship trophy awarded annually to the winning team in the National Ringette League. Initially coined the "Jeanne Sauvé Cup", and initiated in December 1984, it was first presented at the 1985 Canadian Ringette Championships in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Québec.

NRL Annual Award nominees

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

. The awards program recognizes the performance of NRL athletes during regular season play with trophies for: * ''Rookie of the Year'' * ''Most Valuable Player'' * ''Top Forward'' * ''Top Centre'' * ''Top Defence'' * ''Top Goalkeeper'' * ''Coaching Staff of the Year'' * ''NRL Top Scorer''

Teams

As of the 2024–25 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.