A graduate of the St. Albert Ringette Association is playing a major role introducing the sport in the United States. It’s a daunting task for Brenda Rossetto (nee Sadoway), who lives in Midland, Michigan. “It’s pretty tough. It’s very hard to get people to even understand what ringette is without seeing it. You kind of explain it and they’re like do you wear skates? Is it like curling? What is it?” said Rossetto, a captain on Team USA for the World Ringette Championships starting Monday in Mississauga, Ont. “You try to explain the sport is like hockey but ringette players get offended when you say ringette is like hockey so it’s like this balance of trying to get people to understand what it even is so that they’re willing to come and try it and once they try it they all seem to love it but the hardest part is to get people to come out and try it first.” Rossetto, 28, has actively organized weekly ringette drop-in sessions after her first worlds with Team USA in 2016 in Helsinki, Finland “We do kind of give ourselves the name of Michigan Ringette,” said Rossetto of the only grassroots ringette initiative “in all of Michigan and pretty much all of the United states we’re aware of.” Rossetto is an avid promoter of ringette since joining Team USA in the fall of 2015 and a spring tournament is another way of showcasing the fastest game on ice. “I’ve recruited some local Michigan hockey players to get them to try ringette and they ended up playing on Team USA as well,” said the Bellerose Composite High School alumna. There are very few player eligibility restrictions on Team USA and the majority of the players live in Canada. “If you have no American citizenship but if you’re a resident that counts, even if you’re just here for school or on work visa,” said Rossetto, who was recently granted dual citizenship. “If you live in Canada but have American ties with your parents or grandparents you're eligible and there is one clause where if there are no ties but are willing to help promote ringette in the U.S. you are also eligible.” Rossetto started playing ringette in novice and after graduating from Bellerose took a few years off while attending the University of Alberta before joining an adult league. “I grew up playing ringette in St. Albert and then I met my husband online and moved to Michigan (in 2013) and we got married,” said the software developer. “There is no ringette in Michigan really but one day my great aunt, Phyllis Sadoway, who is the coach for Team USA, reached out to me because they we’re looking for more American players and that’s how I first got involved.” Sadoway is a member of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame and Ringette Canada Hall of Fame. Team USA is in Mississauga this weekend for its first training camp since the Thanksgiving weekend last month in preparation for worlds. The tournament is split into three championship pools as Team USA plays Sweden and the Czech Republic in the President’s Pool and the Junior Pool and Sam Jacks Pool are both best-of-three series between Canada and Finland. The two ringette powerhouses are the equivalent of what Canada and Team USA are in women’s hockey. “In the long run absolutely we would love to compete with Canada and Finland. Right now Sweden is kind of our big rival, a comparable team, but in terms of evolving the couple of years that I've been involved we have grown the sport a lot in the U.S. and recruited Americans that have never even heard of ringette before so I think that in itself is a big accomplishment,” Rossetto said. “We’re hoping to continue expanding the ringette program in the U.S. so that we can we can be an all-American team eventually.” At the last worlds, Team USA finished fourth in the junior division consisting of Canada Junior, Finland Junior, Sweden, Sweden Junior, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Team USA lost the best-of-three bronze playoff to Sweden in three games. “I do feel like we're a strong team this year so I’m pretty excited,” Rossetto said. The team’s strengths are two-fold. “Number one, aside from recruiting more American, we have some this year that are returning Americans. The last worlds was their first time playing ringette so now this is their second worlds so they have more ringette experience under their belt. I can just imagine how they felt going into the World Ringette Championships to play their first season of ringette but because they loved it so much they came and tried out again and are on the team again,” Rossetto said. “And secondly, just by promoting ringette in the U.S. and not just promoting Team USA in itself, we did have a lot more interest in terms of trying out for the team compared to last year and part of it I’m sure is it's in Canada and not in Finland so it’s a lot more convenient. “But getting the word out, running our tournament in Michigan, hosting events in Philadelphia and things like to get more interest helped as well.” So, what’s it like to be a Canadian playing the sport you love on Team USA? “I get a lot of jokes from my family, like you look good in red, white and blue even though you should be wearing red and white,” Rossetto said. “But I feel like I’ve lived here long enough to feel that same pride for this country as I do for Canada now so it's kind of an interesting perspective and on top of that just being able to play ringette against world-class athletes is pretty awesome regardless of what team you're on so it’s a pretty cool experience on any team really.”
