National Ringette League

The National Ringette League (also indicated by the initials NRL) is an elite league of ringette in Canada. The NRL groups together the best nineteen-year-old players of the country. The NRL consists of nineteen teams separated into two conferences. The western conference has six teams and the east conference has thirteen teams. The LNR recruits directly from Ringuette Canada, the guiding organisation for the ringette in Canada.  The great majority of the players come from Canada even if some players arise from the United States or from Finland.

History
Ringette was introduced in 1963 in North Bay, Ontario. The sport is now played by 50,000 young women across Canada. The creation of the National Ringette League  is following the success of the 2002 Ringette world championships in Edmonton where Canada won the gold medal. The first NRL season was played in November 2004 with 17 teams. In the 2011-12 season, the NRL enters its eighth season with 19 teams playing in two conferences:

The regular season of the NRL begins in October and comes to an end in March. All in all, thirty one matches are competed by each of the teams during the regular season. Each of the teams faces only teams of their conference. This structure allows to reduce the costs of transport given the size of the Canadian territory covered by the league.  At the end of the regular season, there is a break of a week when the various individual distinctions are awarded, then a NRL Championship Tournament.

National Champions
In 2010-11 season, new fact, an NRL Championship Tournament replaces the Championship qualifying rounds, this tournament takes place in just one city. This allows to create a media event and to hold attention. Ten better teams in the regular season of the league, participate in this tournament which crowns the team champion of the league.

From March 27th till April 2nd, 2011, the NRL Championship Tournament takes place to Cambridge, Ontario. In Final game, the Edmonton WAM! triumph over the Cambridge Turbos

This is a list of NRL champions season by season:
 2010-11 : Edmonton WAM!   
 2009-10 : Edmonton WAM!   
 2008-09 : Cambridge Turbos    
 2007-08 : Cambridge Turbos 
 2006-07 : Edmonton WAM! '
 2005-06 : Cambridge Turbos  
 2004-05 : No championship match

The championship final game is broadcast on Rogers TV.

Awards and Honours
At the end of each season (at the end of March) the League announces its annual awards during the week of break before the playoffs. The annual NRL honors reward the athletes having obtained excellent performances during the regular season. Each of the twp conferences present one athlete and one coach as the finalists in every category. The players and coaches of the National Championship Tournament are chosen among these finalists.

Developing young players 
The NRL works with the lower Ringette leagues to help young players improve in the sport. Several NRL teams additional teams of young players under 19 years old and under 16 years old. The Canadians Championship U16 and U19 (usually in April) take place in the same place as the NRL playoff tournament. This helps the scouts from the NRL teams to identify the young talented players.

References

Other websites 
 The official site of National Ringette League
 The official site of Ringette Canada 
 The site of the officials of the National Ringette League 

Winter sports
Sport in Canada