Coast to coast, ringette on the rise

The Coliseum has been one of the loudest venues at the 2015 Canada Winter Games this week.

Site of the ringette tournament, there are boisterous fans from across the country cheering for their favourite teams or players.

"Our fans are a very passionate bunch," said Ringette Canada spokesperson Alayne Martell on Monday. "There are a lot of fans here and that's great to see."

Ringette is on the rise across Canada and there are numbers to prove it.

"We just cracked 30,000 players in 2013-14 and we should be getting the numbers soon for 2014-15," said Martell. "We should see an uptake in those numbers across Canada. There's never really been a decrease, so that's definitely a positive.

"P.E.I. especially has seen growth. They hosted the national championships (in 2013) and that did a lot for the awareness of ringette in P.E.I."

P.E.I. is Canada's smallest province, with a population with a little more than 140,000 people.

The entire P.E.I. Games team travelled perhaps the longest distance to get here - 5,400 kilometres from Charlottetown to Prince George.

"It's (ringette) growing really fast, we have some good people running the provincial organization now," said Team P.E.I. ringette head coach Danny MacInnis. "I was one of them, I was the president of it a few years ago. They're making stuff happen, everyone is buying into it right now. We have more girls playing ringette than hockey so it's really been a fantastic journey."

In round-robin play so far, P.E.I. is 0-2. It suffered its second straight loss, a 7-4 decision, to host B.C. Monday afternoon at the Coliseum.

Trailing 6-1 after the first period, P.E.I. rallied and scored three straight goals in the second to almost complete the comeback.

"We still have a long way to go, but the days of P.E.I. coming to these events and getting hammered 20-0 are behind us," said McInnis. "But we can be competitive and I'm finding we're getting better and better."

They're improving due to the fact their neighbouring Maritime teams are too.

New Brunswick won gold at the 2012 Canadian Ringette under-16 championship in Prince George and Nova Scotia has also grown by leaps and bounds. The Nova Scotians defeated B.C. 4-3 in overtime on Saturday.

"If you look at teams like Nova Scotia and New Brunswick who are competitive now, I think we're just a year or two behind them," said McInnis. "And they're very good to us, they let us play games against them and the coaching staffs on both those teams are great, they share with us. We've got good games available to us."

McInnis and his staff selected the team in June, 2014. It is comprised of a mixture of 16-, 18- and 20-year-olds. They've been together since then, training.

McInnis said the skill level across the province is improving, adding the key to success in the future is knowing how to win.

"We have to learn how to win games, when you come from a province like ours," he said, adding the team is having a great time in Prince George and enjoying Prince George. "That's what so great about this group, they didn't quit today (Monday). They thought they could beat (B.C.). To be honest, I think they could have too if they had a better start, but I'm biased. And that's what this group has that it didn't have before - they think they can win."

Numbers are also on the rise locally in the Prince George Ringette Association.

Martell believes from a community perspective, hosting a high-level event such as the Canada Winter Games can have a positive impact on the sport. "Young girls are coming out and seeing the level of play," she said. "Adults are seeing it too and they want their kids to play. It's a wicked sport.

"A lot of people don't know ringette, they think it's like hockey. And it's nothing against hockey. We need people to see it. Events such as this give us the edge. It's more akin to basketball or lacrosse, compared to rules."

Ringette Canada celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2014 and it went across the country with a road show celebrating the sport.

Ringette has been a part of the Winter Games since 1991 when Charlottetown hosted them.