Coach's Guide to Ringette Canada U12 Ringette 2026-27

Ringette Canada's Responsible Coaching page sets these requirements:

• Make Ethical Decisions: all coaches must complete the NCCP Make Ethical Decisions module.
• Respect in Sport: ringette coaches, as of April 1, 2020, must also complete the Activity Leader/Coach Program from Respect in Sport (online training on preventing abuse, bullying and harassment).
• Rule of Two: interactions and communications with participants should be open, observable and justifiable, with two responsible adults present. The adults can be a coach, parent, staff member or screened volunteer.
• Screening: Ringette Canada and its provincial organizations take reasonable steps to keep programs safe, including valid police record checks and other background checks as appropriate. The page does not give renewal intervals.

The Responsible Coaching Movement is coordinated by the Coaching Association of Canada and Sport Integrity Canada, and its first phase covers the Rule of Two, Ethics and Respect Training, and Background Screening.

Ringette Canada also publishes a Safe Sport policy suite (Code of Conduct and Ethics, Screening, Discipline and Complaints, Whistleblower and others) at https://www.ringette.ca/safe-sport/policy-suite/ , and a page on how to report an incident at https://www.ringette.ca/safe-sport/how-to-report/ .

Source: https://www.ringette.ca/safe-sport/responsible-coaching/

From the Ringette Canada Concussion Protocol (adapted from the 2024 Canadian Guideline on Concussion in Sport):

• Pre-season: all athletes, parents/guardians, coaches, trainers, Safety Personnel and team staff must review and submit a signed Pre-season Concussion Education Sheet to their coach or team designate before the first practice of the season. Officials submit theirs to their administrator before their first game.
• Recognition: coaches, like everyone in the ringette community, are responsible for recognizing and reporting a suspected concussion. Suspect one if an athlete has an impact to the head, face, neck or body and shows observable signs or reports symptoms from the Concussion Recognition Tool 6, including when the impact was not witnessed.
• Remove immediately: in every suspected case the athlete is removed from the activity immediately and gets a medical assessment as soon as possible. A youth athlete (under 18) suspected of a concussion must not return to the game or practice.
• Cautionary removal: if an athlete is removed after an impact with no signs or symptoms, they can return but should be monitored for delayed symptoms for up to 48 hours.
• Red flags: loss of consciousness, convulsions, worsening headaches, repeated vomiting or neck pain mean a more severe head or spine injury is suspected. Call an ambulance, do not move the athlete or remove equipment (unless formally trained), do not leave them alone, and contact the parents/guardians immediately.
• Diagnosis: the medical assessment that decides whether there is a concussion is done by a medical doctor or nurse practitioner (scope varies by province; the protocol notes that in Quebec nurse practitioners cannot diagnose concussion). SCAT6 or Child SCAT6 may be used by a licensed healthcare professional but must not be used to make sideline return-to-sport decisions for youth. Athletes with a diagnosed concussion must follow the gradual return strategies.

Documents: https://www.ringette.ca/safe-sport/concussions/ . Protocol: https://www.ringette.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/EN-RC-Concussion-Protocol.pdf

Ringette Canada's Concussion Protocol sets a Ringette-Specific Return-to-Sport Strategy. The athlete spends at least 24 hours at each step. A medical doctor or nurse practitioner supervises the athlete's management.

1. Activities of daily living and relative rest (first 24 to 48 hours).
2. Light then moderate aerobic exercise (walking or stationary cycling, up to about 55% then 70% of maximum heart rate).
3. Individual ringette-specific activities with no risk of head impact (skating, changing direction, individual drills, 20 to 30 minutes), supervised by a parent/guardian, coach or Safety Personnel. No body contact or jarring motions. The athlete wears a "No Contact" pinny.
4. Non-contact training drills at high intensity (shooting and passing drills, multi-athlete training), still in a "No Contact" pinny.
5. Full-contact practice and other non-competitive activities, but no competitive gameplay.
6. Return to sport: unrestricted activity and full gameplay.

Before step 4 the athlete must have completed all steps of the Return-to-School Strategy (if applicable) and must give the coach a Medical Clearance Letter stating they are cleared to return to activities with risk of falling or contact. If symptoms return during steps 4 to 6, the athlete goes back to step 3 and needs medical clearance again.

Mild and brief symptom worsening (one to two points on a 0 to 10 scale, settling within an hour) is acceptable during steps 1 to 3; if symptoms worsen more, stop and try again the next day at the same step.

An athlete found not to have a concussion gets a Medical Assessment Letter saying so and can return without restriction. The athlete or parent/guardian is responsible for giving letters to the coach or Safety Personnel.

Source: https://www.ringette.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/EN-RC-Concussion-Protocol.pdf

From the Official Rules and Case Book of Ringette (2025-2027), Section 7:

• Roster size (7.1): a team has no more than 18 and no fewer than 7 players. Once the game has started, a team must be able to ice a minimum of four players, or it forfeits (7.2).
• Official Game Report (7.3): before the game the team records the names and numbers of all eligible players, which are goaltenders and alternate goaltenders, captains and alternate captains, and the names of team staff. Only persons registered on the report may occupy the players' bench.
• Late or omitted players: players recorded on the report who arrive late may play. A player inadvertently left off may be added if they were on the ice or in the players' bench, in uniform, at the start of the game. No other changes are allowed after the game starts. Playing a player who was intentionally left off is a Minor penalty for Illegal Substitution (14.10.f) and any goal they score is nullified.
• Goaltenders as skaters (7.3.c): a replaced goaltender or designated alternate goaltender may play as a skater if they wear the required protective equipment but no goaltender-specific equipment.
• Captains (7.4): up to three skaters may be captains or alternate captains (not goaltenders), shown by "C" or "A" on the upper front left of the sweater (at least 7.62 cm / 3 in. high) and recorded on the report before the game. Only a captain or alternate captain may question an on-ice official about a non-judgement rule clarification, and only during a stoppage.
• Staff conduct: team staff are subject to Unsportsmanlike Conduct (15.1) and Misconduct (16.1) penalties, including for stepping onto the ice during the game except for a player injury.

Source: https://www.ringette.ca/about-us/rule-book/

From the Official Rules and Case Book of Ringette (2025-2027):

• Game length (Rule 6.1): two fifteen-minute periods of actual playing time (stop time) should be allowed for each game in the U14 and younger age divisions.
• Shorter ice bookings (6.2): if periods of that length are not possible, equal-length periods are played. If extra ice time is booked, it should be decided before the game to add it evenly to each period.
• Intermission (6.3): a goaltender may be warmed up between periods by no more than two rings and one shooter, on the half of the ice nearest the team's bench. Teams must be ready to resume when intermission expires.
• Overtime (6.4): at the discretion of the tournament organizers or local governing body. Overtime periods should be the same length as regulation periods. Ties are broken as ruled by the organizers or local governing body (8.1).
• Timeouts (6.5): each team gets one thirty-second timeout per game, plus one more for each full-length overtime period (unused timeouts can be accumulated, but only one timeout per team is granted at the same stoppage). A player on the ice or a team staff member requests it from an on-ice official during a stoppage in play, and it is granted at the officials' discretion; officials are encouraged to grant reasonable requests.
• Refusal to start (7.5): a team that withdraws from the ice or refuses to start play gets a Delay of Game penalty if it starts within one minute of being told to; after one minute, or a second refusal in the same game, the game is forfeited.

Source: https://www.ringette.ca/about-us/rule-book/

From the Official Rules and Case Book of Ringette (2025-2027):

• On the ice (Rule 8.3): no more than six players per team at one time, for example five skaters and a goaltender.
• Substituting (8.3.a): players may substitute at any time, but during play they may only enter or leave the ice through the players' bench gates. A skater may be substituted for the goaltender at any time (8.3.b).
• Illegal Substitution (14.10): a Minor penalty for exceeding the legal number of players, entering during play through a door other than the bench gate, or substituting for a teammate who is not within 3.05 m (10 ft) of the players' bench.
• Restricted area (Rule 8.6): in each end zone, between the end boards and the free play line, a maximum of three skaters per team may play. The limit is four skaters for the team not being penalized while a delayed penalty is signalled, and four for a team making a goaltender substitution. A skater in excess of the maximum may not contact or control the ring while any part of them, including the stick, is in that area. If the team in control of the ring has too many skaters in that area, play is stopped immediately.
• Line changes at the free play line (8.6.e): skaters may exchange once both skates of the exiting player have contacted that line.

Source: https://www.ringette.ca/about-us/rule-book/

From the Official Rules and Case Book of Ringette (2025-2027):

Blue line (Rule 8.4): the ring must be passed, shot with the stick, deflected, batted or legally kicked to another player across each blue line. A ring on or touching a blue line is in both zones and is playable by all eligible players. For skaters, the position of the ring (not the player or the stick) decides blue line violations.

• If the last player to contact the ring while it is entirely on one side of a blue line then controls it entirely on the other side before anyone else touches it, play is stopped immediately.
• If that player only contacts the ring on the other side, no player from that team may contact or control it within five seconds or before the ring completely leaves that zone.

Two blue line pass (Rule 8.5): the ring may not be passed to a teammate directly from the defending zone to the attacking zone. If a teammate of the last player to touch it in the defending zone controls the ring in the attacking zone before an opponent touches it, play is stopped immediately. If the teammate only contacts it, no player from that team may contact or control the ring within five seconds of an opponent touching it, or before the ring completely leaves that zone.

Blue lines are marked 19.50 m (64 ft) from each goal line on rinks 56.39 m (185 ft) or longer; on shorter rinks they divide the area between the goal lines into three equal parts (Rule 3.2).

Source: https://www.ringette.ca/about-us/rule-book/

From the Official Rules and Case Book of Ringette (2025-2027):

Goal crease (Rules 3.6, 8.7): the crease is a semicircle with a 2.43 m (8 ft) radius in front of each net. Only the goaltender (or the acting goaltender during goaltender substitution) may be in the crease in their team's defending zone. No other player may contact or control the ring unless it is entirely outside the crease (a defending skater may tip a ring in contact with the crease line further in, as long as their stick or body does not enter the crease and no advantage is gained).

• If a skater from the team in control of the ring enters the crease, play is stopped immediately.
• If a skater from the other team enters the crease, play is stopped if their team gains control of the ring in that zone before it leaves the zone and within five seconds of that player (or the later of that player and the ring) exiting the crease.
• Incidental stick overhang from which no advantage is gained is not a crease violation.

Free pass (Rule 10.1): the ring is placed in the centre of the half of the free pass circle closer to the goal being defended by the team awarded the pass. Only the taker may be in the circle. After the whistle, the taker must, using the stick, put the ring entirely outside the circle within five seconds. The taker cannot leave their half of the circle until the ring is entirely outside it, cannot touch the ring again until another player has, and no other player may touch it until it is entirely outside the circle. A teammate entering the circle early stops play immediately; an opponent entering early stops play if their team gains control in that zone within five seconds of the ring exiting the circle.

Source: https://www.ringette.ca/about-us/rule-book/

Section 24 of the Official Rules and Case Book of Ringette (2025-2027) sets the shot clock rule:

• The clock is set to 30 seconds at the start of each period and after a goal.
• It counts down only when the game clock counts down: it starts when play starts and stops when play stops.
• It resets to 30 seconds when the team in possession takes a shot on goal, when control of the ring changes from one team to the other, when a delayed penalty is signalled (not again for further delayed penalties before play stops), and in the other situations listed in 24.3.d, such as a violation by the team not in control that stops play.
• A shot on goal is a legal shot by the team in possession where the ring enters the net, hits a post or the crossbar, or contacts the goaltender (or acting goaltender) in the crease, or the goaltender outside the crease in a way that prevents a goal.
• When the clock reaches zero, an audible signal should sound and play is stopped as the team last in control has committed a violation. The clock resets to 30 seconds and the ring is awarded to the non-offending team in the nearest circle within the zone where the ring was last contacted or controlled.
• No goal can be scored once the whistle has blown or the shot clock or game clock has expired.

The rulebook says a rink should have a separate shot clock display in each end zone.

Source: https://www.ringette.ca/about-us/rule-book/

Under the Official Rules and Case Book of Ringette (2025-2027), Section 5:

• Skaters: CSA-certified hockey helmet with chin strap; CSA-certified Type A or Type B facial protector; BNQ-approved neck protector (all players); gloves with two layers of material on the back and protective padding between (no palmless gloves); knee, shin and elbow pads with hard-shell knee protectors; hip, tailbone and genital protection; and, for players in U19 and younger groups, shoulder pads designed for ice sports. Ice skates only; speed skates, figure skates and blades extending past the heel or toe are prohibited.
• Sticks: a ringette stick whose length does not exceed underarm height (measured standing on skates, arm extended at 90 degrees). Composite sticks must have a shaft and tip manufactured for each other for ringette, and manufactured sticks may not be modified except for length. A skater cannot use a goalie stick.
• Goalies: CSA hockey helmet with a Type A or B facial protector (or a Type C goaltender head and face protector), goaltender pads, a chest protector and a goaltender's stick (a goalie may not use a ringette stick). The BNQ neck protector is also required. Skaters may not wear goalie equipment.
• Nets (Rule 3.5.a): for U12 and younger age divisions the goal nets must be completely free moving. Posts are 1.83 m (6 ft) apart and 1.21 m (4 ft) high.
• Ring: blue, pneumatic, 160 to 170 g.
• Gaps: officials will not verify equipment safety unless it is requested or blatantly unsafe; players are responsible for their own compliance. Play is not delayed to adjust equipment, except that a goalie's equipment may be adjusted at an official's discretion.

Source: https://www.ringette.ca/about-us/rule-book/ and https://www.ringette.ca/our-sport/equipment-standards/

Under the Official Rules and Case Book of Ringette (2025-2027):

• Body Contact (14.2): Minor if a player contacts an opponent in a forceful manner using any part of the body. Contact to the head or from behind is a Major or Match penalty. Boarding (14.1) and Charging (14.3) follow the same pattern.
• Delay of Game (14.5): Minor, for example committing a violation after being warned for the same infraction, intentionally shooting or holding the ring out of play, playing with an illegal stick, or a team requesting an equipment measurement that finds the equipment legal.
• Illegal Substitution (14.10): Minor, for example exceeding the number of players on the ice, entering through a door other than the players' bench gate during play, or substituting for a teammate who is not within 3.05 m (10 ft) of the bench.
• Other Minors include Cross-Checking, Elbowing, High Sticking, Holding, Interference, Slashing and Tripping (Sections 14.4 to 14.13).
• Unsportsmanlike Conduct (15.1): a player or team staff member who dissents with an on-ice official, for example by remarks or gestures toward officials, opposing players or spectators.
• Misconduct (16.1): a player or team staff member using obscene, profane or abusive language or gestures, or persisting in disputing an official's ruling. A team staff member who steps onto the ice during the game, except for a player injury, also commits a Misconduct.

Source: https://www.ringette.ca/about-us/rule-book/ (PDF: https://www.ringette.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Final-Draft-Official-Rules-and-Case-Book-2025-2027-English-5.5x8.5-sm-1.pdf)