Player's Guide to Ringette Canada U16 and U19 Ringette 2026-27

From Ringette Canada's Athlete Registration, Eligibility and Transfer Policy (the PDF on ringette.ca, last reviewed November 2013) and the Competitions Policy:

• Athletes must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
• Your permanent residence must be in the province or territory you represent, except after a transfer or release granted before January 1 of the championship year.
• Permanent residents must have lived in that province or territory at least six months before the championships.
• Full-time students studying outside their province or territory of permanent residence during the championship year may represent either that province or the one where they study, if they provide proof of full-time student status with the team roster.
• To play in national or interprovincial play you must be registered with Ringette Canada by February 15 and registered with a team by February 28 of the playing year.
• Players and staff must be registered and in good standing with a Ringette Canada member (your provincial association) and with Ringette Canada. Teams must also be registered and in good standing in the category of play.
• A transfer after February 15 needs a Ringette Canada form, and is granted only if your permanent residence moved from one province or territory to another.

Annex D of the Official Rules and Case Book sets the tiebreaking format:

• Round-robin games tied after regulation: a ten-minute (stop time) sudden victory overtime period. If nobody scores, each team gets one point.
• Playoff games: played until a winner is declared, with successive sudden victory overtime periods.
• Overtime start: an on-ice official tosses a coin and the home team calls it. The winner gets the free pass and the other team picks ends. Later overtime periods alternate the free pass and swap ends.
• Round-robin points: three for a regulation win, two for an overtime win, one for an overtime tie or loss, zero for a regulation loss.
• Tied on points: the order is head-to-head points, most wins, most regulation wins, most overtime wins, head-to-head goal difference, fewest head-to-head goals against, goal difference in all games, fewest goals against in all games, fewest penalty minutes, then a coin toss. In every game the goal difference counts for a maximum of seven goals (the Official Score).

Ringette Canada's published policies do not set a general playing-up rule for U16 or U19. What they do say:

• Competition age categories follow the Registration and Eligibility Policy (age as of December 31 of the playing season), unless the competition's Technical Package specifically says otherwise (Competitions Policy, section 8).
• Ringette Canada's older Athlete Registration, Eligibility and Transfer Policy (last reviewed November 2013) said exceptions to the age categories may be permitted by the Board, at its sole discretion, on a written request. The current web version of the policy (last reviewed March 2020) does not include that wording.

Rule 6.1 of the Official Rules and Case Book says a regulation game should consist of:

• Four ten-minute periods of actual playing time (stop time) in the U16 and older age divisions at the AA level.
• Two twenty-minute periods in the U16 and older age divisions below the AA level.

If periods of that length are not possible (for example a late start), equal-length periods are played, and any extra ice time is added evenly to each period. Overtime is at the discretion of the tournament organizers or local governing body, with overtime periods the same length as regulation periods. Any penalty not expired at the end of regulation carries into overtime.

• Roster: a team must have no more than 18 and no fewer than seven players, all dressed and physically able to play. If you have seven skaters and no goaltender, you start with an acting goaltender (AGK).
• On the ice: no more than six players per team at once (for example five skaters and a goaltender).
• Minimum during the game: once the game has started a team must be able to ice at least four players or it forfeits.
• Timeouts: each team gets one 30-second timeout per game, plus one more for every full-length overtime period. A player on the ice or a team staff member asks an on-ice official during a stoppage in play. Unused timeouts can be taken at any later point, but only one timeout per team is granted on the same stoppage.

The Official Rules and Case Book (Section 5) requires:

• Neck protector: all players must wear a BNQ-approved neck protector.
• Shoulder pads: all players registered in U19 and younger age groups must wear shoulder pads designed for participation in ice sports.
• Knee, shin and elbow pads: all players must wear them, with a plastic or similar hard shell in all knee protectors (goaltenders excluded).
• Pelvic protection: all players must wear hip, tailbone and pelvic protection.

A skater who is involved in the play without a helmet or face protector, or a goaltender without mandatory protective equipment, causes play to be stopped immediately. A delayed violation for a missing neck protector or other improper equipment is nullified once you correct the fault or leave the ice.

The Official Rules and Case Book (Section 24) uses a 30-second shot clock.

• It is set to 30 seconds at the start of each period and after a goal, and runs only when the game clock runs.
• It resets to 30 when your team takes a shot on goal, when control of the ring changes from one team to the other, or when a delayed penalty is signalled.
• A shot on goal is one that enters the net, hits a post or the crossbar, or hits the goaltender in the crease (or outside it if that stops the ring entering the net).
• When it reaches zero, a signal sounds and play is stopped because the team last in control has committed a violation. The other team gets the ring in the nearest circle in the zone where the ring was last contacted or controlled (a goaltender ring may replace a defensive free pass).

After the whistle (Rule 10.1):

• The ring is placed in the half of the free pass circle closer to the goal area defended by the team awarded the free pass. Only the player taking the pass is allowed in the circle, and only in the half where the ring is placed.
• That player must use the stick to put the ring entirely outside the circle within five seconds, and may not leave that half circle until it is out.
• That player may not touch or control the ring again outside the circle until another player has touched or controlled it.
• Teammates who enter the circle before the ring is entirely outside it cause play to be stopped.
• No other player may touch or control the ring before it is entirely outside the circle. If an opponent enters the circle early and that team then gains control of the ring in that zone within five seconds of it leaving the circle, play is stopped.

A free pass in a team's defending zone is replaced by a goaltender ring, except after things like an injury, a penalty, a timeout or the ring staying out of the playing area.

Blue line (Rule 8.4). The ring must be passed, shot, deflected, batted or legally kicked across each blue line. It is the position of the ring, not your skate or stick, that counts. A ring on a blue line is in both zones.

• If you were the last to touch the ring on one side of a blue line and you then control it on the other side before anyone else touches it, play is stopped and the other team gets a free pass.
• If you only contact it on the other side, you and your team cannot contact or control it for five seconds, or until it leaves that zone.

Two blue line pass (Rule 8.5). You cannot pass the ring to a teammate directly from your defending zone to your attacking zone.

• If a teammate controls that ring before an opponent touches it, play is stopped.
• If a teammate only contacts it, your team cannot touch it for five seconds after an opponent contacts or controls it, or before it leaves that zone.
• If an opponent touches the ring first, there is no violation.

Under the Official Rules and Case Book:

• Minor (two minutes): boarding, body contact, charging, cross-checking, delay of game, elbowing, high sticking, holding, hooking, illegal substitution, interference, slashing and tripping.
• Unsportsmanlike Conduct (two minutes, fully served): for example dissent or gestures toward officials, opponents or spectators, or throwing a stick into the bench or stands.
• Misconduct: obscene, profane or abusive language or gestures, or persisting in disputing an official's ruling. You are ejected from the game and a teammate serves an Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty.
• Major (four minutes, fully served): a Minor infraction that is reckless or intentional and aggressive, rough play, or boarding, body contact, charging, cross-checking or elbowing with initial contact to the head or from behind.
• Match: for example fighting or intent to injure. You are ejected, suspended from the next game, and a teammate serves a Major penalty.

Penalty time is actual playing time, served in the penalty bench, and you cannot be replaced while serving. A team can have at most two players serving penalties at once. A goal may cancel a Minor penalty when the team scored against has more penalized players than the scoring team. Fully served penalties are never cancelled by a goal.