# Canada national ringette team

The Canada national ringette team (popularly known as Team Canada; French: Équipe Canada) is the ringette team representing Canada internationally. Canada has both a senior national team, Team Canada Senior, and a junior national team, Team Canada Junior. Both national teams compete in the World Ringette Championships (WRC) and are overseen by Ringette Canada which is a member of the International Ringette Federation (IRF). Some team members are selected from the National Ringette League. Team Canada and Team Finland have emerged as ringette's major international rivals at both the senior and junior level. Some of Canada's national teams have been inducted into the Ringette Canada Hall of Fame.
Canada's first appearance in international ringette began at the inaugural World Ringette Championships which was the 1990 World Ringette Championships, when Canada sent six different regional teams from across the country to represent the nation. At that time, Canada had not yet established a national team, and rather, regional teams competed for the championship instead. Team Alberta, which was composed of members of the province's Calgary Debs who were all-star players from across Alberta, emerged victorious from the tournament.
Canada achieved its first unified national ringette team in the 1996 World Ringette Championships. This was a significant milestone for the sport, as it marked the first time that only one team represented the nation in international ringette competitions. Previously, regional teams, like Team Alberta, represented Canada in international tournaments. The formation of this national team paved the way for greater standardization in the sport and allowed Canada to bring its best players together to compete on the world stage. The Canadian national ringette team has since become a dominant force in international ringette competitions, winning several gold medals in the World Ringette Championships.
The next time Canada competed was at the 1998 Summit Series where both Team Canada Senior and Team Finland Senior competed exclusively in a European tour.
The 2009 World Junior Ringette Championships was the first-ever international tournament exclusively for junior ringette players and took place in Prague, Czech Republic. Two different teams represented the country: Canada East, and Canada West. This marked another important moment in the history of the sport, as it was the first time that nations specifically competed against each other with their best young players, all of whom were U19 (Under-19). Later, the junior tournament merged with the senior tournament at the 2013 World Ringette Championships during the 50th anniversary of the sport. That same year, Canada established its first-ever all-junior national ringette team, taking the opportunity to send upcoming players to the merged junior-senior tournament. The creation of the all-junior team allowed Canada to continue its tradition of success in the international scene and also provided a pathway for young players to represent their country on a global stage.

## Early history

Canada was initially represented by six different amateur ringette teams at the inaugural World Ringette Championships in 1990 which took place in Gloucester, Ontario, Canada. In 1996, Canada's national ringette team became the first single representative Canadian team for ringette internationally, forming roughly 15 years after the death of Sam Jacks in 1975, the Canadian identified as the sport's inventor.
Until 2009, Canada only had world representation in ringette at the senior level due to the fact that it was the only level available for elite international ringette competition. Canada created two teams which formed in 2009 for the inaugural World Junior Ringette Championships in the Czech Republic, but Canada wouldn't form its first, single representative all-junior national team until 2013.

## World Championship record
### Summit Series

The 1998 World Ringette Championships were replaced by a Summit Series between Team Canada and Team Finland, both of which were senior teams. Team Canada finished in second place while Team Finland finished in first.

### Senior Canada

(Seniors) World Ringette Championships :
| Year | Location | Result |
| 1990 | Gloucester | Gold |
| 1992 | Helsinki | Gold |
| 1994 | Saint Paul | Silver |
| 1996 | Stockholm | Gold |
| 1998 "Summit Series" | Turku Gothenburg Osnabrück Colmar | Silver |
| 2000 | Espoo and Lahti | Silver |
| 2002 | Edmonton | Gold |
| 2004 | Stockholm | Silver |
| 2007 | Ottawa | Silver |
| 2010 | Tampere | Silver |
| 2013 | North Bay | Silver |
| 2016 | Helsinki | Silver |
| 2017 | Mississauga | Silver |
| 2019 | Burnaby | Silver |
| 2021 | Helsinki | cancelled |
| 2022 | Espoo | Silver |

### Junior Canada

(Juniors) World Ringette Championships :
| Year | Location | Result |
| 2009 | Prague | Silver |
| 2012 | London | Gold |
| 2013 | Saint Paul | Silver |
| 2016 | Stockholm | Gold |
| 2017 | Mississauga | Gold |
| 2019 | Burnaby | Gold |
| 2021 | Helsinki | cancelled |
| 2022 | Espoo | Silver |

## Team Canada Senior

Canada's first appearance in international ringette took place at the first World Ringette Championships in 1990 with six different Canadian senior amateur ringette teams representing the country: Team Alberta (Calgary Debs), Team Ontario, Team Quebec, Team Manitoba, Team Saskatchewan, and Team Gloucester (host). The winners of the 1989 Western Canadian Ringette Championships, the Calgary Debs advanced to the first World Ringette Championships in 1990 as Team Alberta. The team went on to become the first to win the World Ringette Championship and the Sam Jacks Trophy. Clémence Duchesneau was named the tournament's top goalie, an award she also claimed at the next tournament.
Canada was represented by two separate teams, Team Canada East and Team Canada West, during the 1992 World Ringette Championships and the 1994 World Ringette Championships. Since the 1996 World Ringette Championships only one national Canadian team has served as the Canadian senior representative; it has won the competition twice, in 1996 and in 2002.

## Team Canada Junior

Team Canada Junior first competed in the World Junior Ringette Championships. The 2009 World Junior Ringette Championships marked the first time an international competition took place specifically for junior players between ringette playing nations. The tournament was created separately from the major competition between senior national teams (the World Ringette Championships) and was established by the International Ringette Federation.
In 2009, Canada was represented by two different Canadian junior amateur ringette teams, Team Canada East and Team Canada West. At the 2012 World Junior Ringette Championships, Canada was represented by two separate teams: Team Canada East Under-19, and Team Canada West Under-19.
The first single representative national junior ringette team in Canada was formed in 2013 after the World Junior Ringette Championships tournament merged with the larger World Ringette Championships and a Junior division was created.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 World Ringette Championships were cancelled and therefore there was no Team Canada Junior for that year.

## Medal record
### Senior medal record

In conjunction with a gold medal, the winning senior national ringette team is awarded the Sam Jacks Trophy which was first introduced at the world inaugural World Ringette Championships (WRC) in 1990 in Gloucester, Ontario, Canada. A new redesign of the Sam Jacks Trophy was introduced during the 1996 World Ringette Championships in Stockholm, Sweden. 1996 was the year Canada sent the first all–Canadian national ringette team to the WRC whereas before Canada had sent regional teams.
Senior Team Canada WRC Medals (1990–1994) :
| Year | Gold 2 (Sam Jacks Trophy) | Silver 3 | Bronze 2 |
| 1990 Details | Team Alberta (Calgary Debs) | Team Ontario | Team Quebec |
| 1992 Details | Team Canada West (Team Alberta "AAA") | Team Canada East | |
| 1994 Details | | Team Canada East | Team Canada West |
| Senior Team Canada WRC Medals (1996–2022) ||||
| Year | Gold 2 (Sam Jacks Trophy) | Silver 10 | Bronze 0 |
| 1996 Details | 1996 Team Canada | | |
| 1998 Details | | 1998 Team Canada | |
| 2000 Details | | 2000 Team Canada | |
| 2002 Details | 2002 Team Canada | | |
| 2004 Details | | 2004 Team Canada | |
| 2007 Details | | 2007 Team Canada | |
| 2010 Details | | 2010 Team Canada | |
| 2013 Details | | 2013 Team Canada Senior | |
| 2016 Details | | 2016 Team Canada Senior | |
| 2017 Details | | 2017 Team Canada Senior | |
| 2019 Details | | 2019 Team Canada | |
| 2021 Details | cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2022 Details | | 2022 Team Canada | |
| 2023 Details | | | |

### Junior medal record

In conjunction with a gold medal, the winning junior national ringette team is awarded the Juuso Wahlsten Trophy which was first introduced during the 2019 World Ringette Championships (WRC) in Burnaby, Canada. 2013 was the year Canada sent the first all–Canadian junior national ringette team to the WRC whereas before Canada had sent regional teams to the World Junior Ringette Championships (WJRC) in 2009 and 2012, after which the tournament merged with the WRC.
Junior Team Canada WJRC Medals (2009–2012) :
| Year | Gold 4 (World Junior Championship Trophy) | Silver 2 | Bronze 1 |
| 2009 Details | | U19 Team Canada East | |
| 2012 Details | U19 Team Canada East | | U19 Team Canada West |
| Junior Team Canada WRC Medals (2013–present) ||||
| Year | Gold 3 (Juuso Wahlsten Trophy) | Silver 2 | Bronze 0 |
| 2013 Details | | Team Canada U19 | |
| 2016 Details | Team Canada U19 | | |
| 2017 Details | Team Canada U19 | | |
| 2019 Details | Team Canada U19 | | |
| 2021 Details | cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2022 Details | | Team Canada U21 | |
| 2023 Details | | | |

## Notable people
### Players

* Keely Brown (goaltender)
* Julie Blanchette
* Lyndsay Wheelans
* Stéphanie Séguin
* Shelly Hruska
* Erin Cumpstone
* Jennifer Hartley [fr]
* Claudia Jetté - goalie, goalie coach, played for the Montréal Mission of the National Ringette League for 13 years, played in the Finnish national ringette league for Team Helsinki in Finland in 2006, 18 Canadian Ringette Championships, played for Team Canada 2007 (Sr.) at WRC 2007, goalie coach for Team Canada Juniors 2016 (gold medal), coach for one of the Team Canada Senior teams at the 2023 World Ringette Championships

### Samuel Perry Jacks

Samuel Perry Jacks, commonly known as Sam Jacks, is the Canadian who created the sport of ringette. Ringette's preeminent international award for ringette athletes, the World Ringette Championships, Sam Jacks Trophy, is awarded to the winning team in the Senior Pool and is named in his honour.

### Mirl Arthur McCarthy

Mirl Arthur McCarthy, commonly known as "Red", was the Canadian responsible for designing ringette's first set of official rules.

## Team Canada goalies

Below is a list of ringette goalies who have been members of Canada's national ringette team or a have been goalies for one of the regional Canadian ringette teams at the World Ringette Championships.

## Gallery

* Julie Blanchette, former Team Canada player
* Stéphanie Séguin, former Team Canada player