Published on February 27, 2015 | by Don Sherrah

B.U.F.F.A.L.O. All Hail The Buffalo!

I had the privilege to attend the gold medal game last week with my wife and some friends. As the line-up of fans poured into the rink we sat down where we thought we would have a good view. A minute later the section flooded with yellow and black jerseys, tambourines, shakers, horns and giant buffalo hats; this wasn’t your standard hockey cheering squad, these were ringette moms, mentally preparing for gold. As it turned out we sat in the middle of the Manitoba cheering section and I’m glad we did!

For those of you as new to Ringette as I was, it is a fast and very strategic alternative to hockey. While it is played on ice and uses similar protective equipment, that’s about where the similarities stop. As someone who has played hockey for over 20 years I really wasn’t expecting much, I love hockey but Ringette is a great alternative winter sport. Ringette doesn’t rely on grueling hits and 100 mph shots like hockey; instead it relies on agility, passing and complete accuracy. It’s very fast and once you understand the rules, and overcome the cherry picking and blue line rules, Ringette is quite fascinating to watch.

When we sat down with the Manitoba fans they immediately included us in their cheer, gave us noise makers, taught us the rules and their cheers! That night Manitoba moms chanted loud and proud as their girls took home the gold medals for Ringette at the Canada Games 2015 last week in Prince George and their girls win 6-4 over Ontario. CONGRATULATIONS!

If Ontario intends to win in the next Winter Games they will need to beat the mighty buffalo on the ice and in the stands!