Player's Guide to Ringette Canada National Ringette League 2026-27

The NRL is an interprovincial league divided into two divisions, NRL West and NRL East. League games are played either in a hub format or as single league games. In a hub, several teams travel to one location to play several games over a weekend.

For the 2025-26 season, Ringette Canada's NRL page lists 14 teams, seven in the East and seven in the West, playing a 24-game regular season in hub format.

Sources: Ringette Canada Competition Policy (PolicyOP-03, 2024), section 7.2, https://ringette.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PolicyOP-03_2024_Competition_EN.pdf; https://www.ringette.ca/athletes/national-ringette-league/.

The National Ringette League Championship (NRLC) is a competition at which a national champion is declared from teams within the NRL. It is held during the Canadian Ringette Championships (CRC), and NRL regular-season standings form the basis of seeding for the NRLC. At the end of the season, NRL teams travel to the CRC to battle for the Mary May Simon Cup.

The next CRC is in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from 28 March to 3 April 2027.

Sources: Ringette Canada Competition Policy (PolicyOP-03, 2024), sections 7.2 and 7.3; https://www.ringette.ca/athletes/national-ringette-league/ and https://www.ringette.ca/events/canadian-ringette-championships/.

Ringette Canada's Competition Policy says the National Ringette League Championship (NRLC) is governed by the policies established for the operation of the National Ringette League and the Championship Technical Package, and that activities and technical elements are governed by the NRL Handbook and the NRLC Technical Package. Teams registered to take part must be in Good Standing with Ringette Canada and with the provincial association they are located in. Ringette Canada creates the competition schedules and provides support to participants and the host committee under its Hosting Guidelines.

Source: Ringette Canada Competition Policy (PolicyOP-03, 2024), sections 7.3, 43 to 45, https://ringette.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PolicyOP-03_2024_Competition_EN.pdf.

All athletes and staff taking part in a Ringette Canada competition must be duly registered and in Good Standing with a Ringette Canada Member (the provincial or territorial association) and with Ringette Canada. Teams at the championship must be registered and in Good Standing in their provincial or territorial association in the category of play for that competition, and in Good Standing with Ringette Canada; NRL teams must also be in Good Standing with the provincial association where they are located.

Members register athletes with Ringette Canada and pay the fees by 15 February of the playing season, and athletes register with only one Member at a time unless they are an affiliate player.

Source: Ringette Canada Competition Policy (PolicyOP-03, 2024), sections 9, 14 and 43; Registration and Eligibility Policy, sections 3 and 4, https://www.ringette.ca/wp-content/uploads/policies/Registration-and-Eligibility-Policy.pdf.

Ringette Canada's Competition Policy lists the Female NRL and Male NRL among the divisions of the Canadian Ringette Championships (CRC). Its CRC roster rules say:

• Rosters must be created in keeping with the registration guidelines in the team's province and submitted to Ringette Canada by 31 January of the competition year.
• Rosters may not be changed after the provincial registration deadline or 31 January, whichever is earlier, except for injury (with medical documentation that the athlete is not medically fit) and only if another athlete is moved to the non-active roster for medical reasons.
• Athletes added after the deadline may not have appeared on the roster of another team selected to attend the CRC as of 31 January.

Where the policy and the event's Technical Package differ, the Technical Package takes precedence.

Source: Ringette Canada Competition Policy (PolicyOP-03, 2024), sections 7.1, 28 and 35 to 41, https://ringette.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PolicyOP-03_2024_Competition_EN.pdf.

All participants in a Ringette Canada competition, including the Canadian Ringette Championships where the NRL champion is decided, must abide by Ringette Canada's Code of Conduct and Ethics. Competition discipline, protests and grievances at the Canadian Ringette Championships are handled by a Discipline, Protest and Grievance Committee, which does not hear matters related to an official's judgment. Team walk-out and competition uniforms must conform to Ringette Canada's Technical Package for the event.

Source: Ringette Canada Competition Policy (PolicyOP-03, 2024), sections 12, 13, 24 to 26, https://ringette.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PolicyOP-03_2024_Competition_EN.pdf.

These come from Ringette Canada's Official Rules and Case Book 2025-2027, Ringette Canada's national playing rules. The NRL Handbook, which Ringette Canada's Competition Policy names as governing the league's championship, could not be checked, so it may add league-specific rules.

• Shot clock: thirty seconds. It is reset when your team takes a shot on goal, when control of the ring changes, and after a goal. If it reaches zero, play stops, the other team is awarded the ring in the nearest circle in the zone where the ring was last contacted or controlled (a goaltender ring may be awarded instead of a defensive free pass), and the clock resets to thirty seconds.
• Timeouts: each team has one thirty-second timeout per game, plus one more for each full-length overtime period. A player on the ice or a team staff member requests it from an on-ice official at a stoppage in play.
• Penalties: a Minor penalty is two minutes and a Major penalty is four minutes, fully served. A maximum of two players per team can serve penalties at the same time.

Source: Ringette Canada Official Rules and Case Book 2025-2027, rules 6.5, 20.3, 21.1 and 24.3, 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.