Ringette in the context of "Ice rink"

Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold areas during winter, but artificial snow and artificial ice allow more flexibility. Playing areas and fields consist of either snow or ice.

Artificial ice can be used to provide ice rinks for ice skating, ice hockey, para ice hockey, ringette, broomball, bandy, rink bandy, rinkball, and spongee in a milder climate. The sport of speed skating uses a frozen circular track of ice, but in some facilities the track is combined in an enclosed area used for sports requiring an ice rink or the rink itself is used. Alternatively, ice cross downhill uses a track with various levels of elevation and a combination of bends. Long distance skating (a.k.a. "marathon skating") such as tour skating is only performed outdoors and uses the available natural ice from frozen lakes, ponds, and marshes. Tour skating at times includes speed skaters, though tour skates are more common.

An ice hockey rink is an ice rink that is specifically designed for ice hockey, a competitive team sport. Alternatively it is used for other sports such as broomball, ringette, rinkball, and rink bandy. It is a rectangle with rounded corners and surrounded by walls approximately 1.22 metres (48 in) high called the boards. There are two standard rink sizes: North American and international.

Hockey is a family of stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, and playing surface. Hockey includes both summer and winter variations that may be played on an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or an indoor gymnasium. Some forms of hockey require skates, either inline, roller or ice, while others do not. The various games are usually distinguished by proceeding the word hockey with a qualifier, as in field hockey, ice hockey, roller hockey, rink hockey, or floor hockey.In each of these sports, two teams play against each other by trying to manoeuvre the object of play, either a type of ball or a disk (such as a puck), into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick. Two notable exceptions use a straight stick and an open disk (still referred to as a puck) with a hole in the center instead. The first case is a style of floor hockey whose rules were codified in 1936 during the Great Depression by Canada's Sam Jacks. The second case involves a variant which was later modified in roughly the 1970s to make a related game that would be considered suitable for inclusion as a team sport in the newly emerging Special Olympics. The floor game of gym ringette, though related to floor hockey, is not a true variant because it was designed in the 1990s and modelled on the Canadian ice skating team sport of ringette, which was invented in Canada in 1963. Ringette was also invented by Sam Jacks, the same Canadian who codified the rules for the open disk style of floor hockey in 1936.Certain sports which share general characteristics with the forms of hockey, but are not generally referred to as hockey include lacrosse, hurling, camogie, and shinty.

Samuel Perry Jacks (April 23, 1915 – May 14, 1975) more commonly known as, "Sam Jacks," was a Canadian soldier in World War II, inventor, military and civic recreation director, sports coach, creator of the Canadian sport of ringette, originally designed for girls, and the creator and codifier of the first set of rules for floor hockey in 1936. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, in 1915 and became a Canadian citizen after his parents had immigrated to Canada in 1920. Jacks died from cancer in 1975, at the age of 60.

Among his many achievements and honours was his posthumous induction into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. He was also posthumously inducted into the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame on February 27, 1982. He was inducted into the Ringette Canada Hall of Fame in 1998 during the 10th annual Canadian Ringette Championships.

Mirl Arthur "Red" McCarthy (March 12, 1930 – 1995) was a Canadian sportsperson, sport and recreation administrator, ice hockey player, founder and co-inventor of the sport of ringette, and for a time, a professional skating star and barrel jumper. He was inducted into the Ringette Canada Hall of Fame as a Founder in 1998.

Espanola (2021 population census 5,185) is a town in Northern Ontario, Canada, in the Sudbury District. It is situated on the Spanish River, approximately 70 kilometres (43 mi) west of downtown Sudbury, and just south of the junction of Highway 6 and Highway 17.

The town is where the first experimental rules for the sport of ringette were created in 1963 by Mirl Arthur "Red" McCarthy using a group of local high school girls. Today, Espanola is considered "The Home of Ringette" while North Bay, Ontario, is considered "The Birthplace of Ringette" though the title is often shared by both.

Stick sports are games in which a long stick-like device is essential to the sport. Often the stick is used to strike or catch a ball, puck or ring, but may be used for other purposes such as dislodging your opponent in jousting, a weapon in stick fighting or a prop in quidditch. Sticks are specialized for each sport, but may fall into broad categories such as bats, clubs, cues or mallets.

The Ringette Canada Hall of Fame was established in 1988 by Ringette Canada, Canada's governing body for ringette, to honor notable individuals and groups associated with the sport.

The Ringette Canada Hall of Fame includes six categories: founder, builder, official, team, coach, and athlete. A number of Canadian national ringette teams and their players have been inducted over the course of its existence, as well as organizers, administrators, coaches, and officials.