HIGH ACHIEVERS: Ottawa gets second chance to host ringette nationals, after COVID cancellation

By Martin Cleary

The Canadian ringette championships are finally returning to Ottawa in 2025, which would be a long-awaited homecoming for the national capital.

The City of Ottawa Ringette Association (CORA) submitted a bid in 2018 for the 2020 national championships and it came out victorious.

But three weeks before the Big Show, the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed the sports world in mid-March 2020 and crushed the dreams of hundreds of players, coaches, officials and volunteers.

“We had the infrastructure in place. We were raring to go. Then we had a dead halt,” said Phyllis Bergmans, who was the CORA president at the time.

The pandemic cancelled the nationals for 2020 and 2021. But when the Canadian championships returned in 2022, CORA expected to get a call from Ringette Canada appointing Ottawa as the next host site or the one after.

It never happened as the Canadian championships went to Calgary in 2022 in a protective bubble setting, Regina in 2023 with its six-ice-pad complex and Dieppe, N.B., in 2024. The Dieppe nationals ended on Saturday.

But after enduring a full range of emotions over the past seven years, Bergmans remained strong and along with co-chair Kristian Ewen submitted a bid three months ago for the 2025 Canadian championships. Ringette Canada accepted the bid and made the announcement on Saturday at the closing ceremony of the Dieppe nationals in the Moncton Coliseum.

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“Kristian and I were given the mic and we said how excited we were,” Bergmans said. “We asked questions (during the week-long Dieppe championships) and volunteered in different roles to get a better understanding (of nationals). Kristian and I drove 11 hours home and we talked and threw a lot of ideas on the wall.

“Dieppe did such a great job for a small community, but they are passionate about sport. There were so many things that we learned.”

Bergmans is familiar with being active in ringette. She recently won the Mayor’s Cup at the 2024 Ottawa Sports Awards Dinner for being a driving force behind youth sports participation in ringette and her outstanding contributions to sports.

The main criteria for staging nationals is having six ice pads either under one roof or nearby multi-pad complexes, which would reduce travel time for teams and officials.

The round-robin, quarter-final and semi-final games for the U16, U19 and National Ringette League divisions at the 2025 nationals will be held in the east-end of Ottawa at the Ray Friel Recreation Complex on Tenth Line Road and the Richcraft Sportsplex on Shefford Road. Both locations have three ice pads each.

The final two games could be staged at the new 4,000-seat Centre Slush Puppie in Gatineau, which meets Ringette Canada’s required seating capacity for the gold- and bronze-medal showdowns.

It also could be a double homecoming for the region. The Hull sector of Gatineau played host to the nationals in 1991 and five years later Gloucester served as the venue for nationals in 1996.

Ottawa also staged the first world championship at Gloucester’s Earl Armstrong Arena in 1990 and the eighth championship at the former Ottawa Civic Centre in 2007.

When the announcement was made at the closing ceremony of last week’s Dieppe nationals that Ottawa would play host to the 2025 nationals, there was “a huge cheer from the crowd,” said Bergmans, who was told in advance of the decision.

“It really was invigorating,” she added.

Even when the announcement was made and she knew Ottawa was the 2025 bid winner, it was still a thrilling moment.

“There was elation, excitement and trepidation,” she added.

When Bergmans linked Ringette Canada’s decision to award the 2025 nationals to Ottawa with the original Ottawa bid in 2018, it completed a six-year-old project.

When COVID struck and cancelled the 2020 nationals, Bergmans was devastated.

“All that work that all the volunteers had put in … it was hard (to comprehend),” she said. “I’m over it, but it did bring back emotions. But 2025 will close that circle. The ideas we have will bring the public to us. So, it will be exciting.”

Bergmans estimates the organizing committee will need about 250 volunteers for the week-long nationals as there will be round-robin and playoff games played over a 14-hour span for each of the five weekdays.

The host committee also will include seven different directors for specific areas as well as honourary co-chairs Jenna McBride and Dominique Frechette, who formerly played in the CORA system.

In the next month, Bergmans hopes to have a Town Hall meeting, which will be open to all interested citizens inside or outside the Ottawa ringette community, who want to volunteer and help showcase the female sport.

The organizing committee will be responsible for the opening ceremony as well as the closing ceremony.

Bergmans hopes the opening ceremony can be held at The Arena at TD Place on the grounds of Lansdowne Park. The EY Centre and the University of Ottawa are being considered as the site for the closing ceremony, which doesn’t require an ice surface.

Bergmans is planning to open the national championships on March 30 with a community pancake breakfast, which also may include the Ringette Canada Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

“The girls would wear their jerseys and there’s a lot in the bid about community engagement,” she explained.

“I’m not sure if relief is the right word, but we’re excited. It’s the chance to close the circle. Look at how many things were cancelled. My Grade 12 daughter had no prom or grad. Now, we get a chance (to play host to nationals) and that’s very exciting.”