About this series
The Globe is reporting from cities and towns in Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia to hear from residents about the issues affecting their communities and their votes in the municipal elections.
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Globe → report → elections
The Pete Palangio Arena in North Bay has all the shabby charm of 100 other arenas in 100 other Canadian towns, right down to the olfactory bouquet of rubber mats and foot sweat.
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Arena → have → mats
As a dozen high-school-age members of the West Ferris 63s hustle up and down the ice, they swish a blue rubber ring from stick to stick.
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they → hustle → stick
“It’s nothing like hockey,” says Steve Hamilton, a long-time ringette referee and coach keeping a close eye on the scrimmage.
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Hamilton → ’ → scrimmage
“It’s got a real strategy to it.
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It → get → it
It’s like a combination of basketball and lacrosse on ice.
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It → ’ → ice
Invented in 1963 in this northeastern Ontario city of roughly 60,000 people, its popularity stalled in the 1990s, when the arrival of women’s Olympic hockey began drawing girls away from the sport and created uncertainty around ringette’s future.
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arrival → invent → future
Now, the sport is slated to lose a piece of its storied past.
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sport → slat → past
On the other side of North Bay from Pete Palangio, the arena considered the place where ringette was born is slated for possible demolition.
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ringette → consider → demolition
Some residents have vowed to make the preservation of that building, the now-shuttered West Ferris Centennial Community Centre, an issue in coming municipal elections.
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preservation → vow → elections
Rinks form the social backbone of countless Canadian towns and cities, yet half of all single-pad arenas need urgent refurbishment, according to Statistics Canada.
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half → form → Canada
Those costs often stretch cash-strapped municipalities, leaving few options aside from demolition.
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costs → stretch → demolition
“We can’t keep tearing down our history,” said Bill Antler, who’s leading a local charge to save the rink.
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who → keep → rink
“That’s the birthplace of ringette.
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That → ’ → ringette
That’s the history of North Bay.
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That → ’ → Bay
That’s women’s sports history.
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That → ’ → ?
You can’t do that.
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You → do → that
The origins of ringette can be traced to the Great Depression, when a director at Toronto’s West End YMCA, Sam Jacks, developed rules for floor hockey, then played with broomsticks and a felt ring.
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director → trace → broomsticks
Almost 30 years later, in 1963, recreation directors in Northern Ontario wanted to come up with a no-contact sport for girls that would break up the male domination of ice sports in the region.
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that → want → region
He suggested a version of his ring-based floor hockey game – but played on ice.
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He → suggest → ice
Hockey ruled North Bay.
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Hockey → rule → Bay
Team managers and local bureaucrats had no interest in giving up ice time to an experimental girls’ sport.
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managers → have → sport
The first games had to be played 200 kilometres away, in Espanola, fuelling perpetual arguments over the game’s true birthplace.
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games → have → birthplace
When West Ferris opened in 1967, its manager, Don Pecore, battled hockey leagues and municipal politicians to secure three hours of ice a week for ringette, according to his memoir.
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manager → open → memoir
Karen Cook recalls sitting in grade school when someone came to recruit players.
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someone → recall → players
“They said all we needed was our mother’s broom handle, skates and a helmet,” she recalled.
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she → say → ?
She played her first season outdoors before moving into West Ferris.
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She → play → Ferris
“That rink was the centre of the universe – for us, if not for the entire sport,” she said.
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she → say → sport
By the 1980s, there were 50,000 players across the country, with sizable involvement in Finland, Sweden and the U.S. Big games featured prominently on CBC and TSN.
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games → be → CBC
Ms. Cook led efforts to erect a highway sign declaring North Bay the birthplace of ringette in 2005.
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Bay → lead → 2005
A few years later, the sport got its own postage stamp.
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sport → get → stamp
But much of the 2000s marked a period of stagnation.
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much → mark → stagnation
Registration plateaued at around 30,000 players as women’s hockey boomed from 8,000 players in 1990 to 120,000 today.
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hockey → plateaue → 120,000
The highway sign is gone now, and city staff say the arena has reached its end.
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arena → go → end
Inspections have found cracks in the rink walls and foundation.
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Inspections → find → walls
The brine piping system needs a $2-million replacement, and the heaters have been defunct for years.
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heaters → need → years
A full renovation would likely cost upward of $12.4-million, the price Orillia recently paid to upgrade Brian Orser Arena.
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Orillia → cost → Arena
With the recent completion of a $63-million twin-pad facility, North Bay has five rinks without West Ferris, enough to meet demand in an environment where boys’ hockey and ringette participation are both declining, according to reports commissioned by the city.
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participation → have → city
In May, the infrastructure committee voted to demolish the 59-year-old rink.
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committee → vote → rink
Council later punted the decision back to committee, effectively delaying any decision on the rink’s fate until after the Oct. 26 municipal election.
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Council → punt → election
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
