"She had no interest in taking the puck and skating with it," said her father Terry. "We decided hockey wasn't for her."

So Maggie's parents decided to put their daughter into another team sport played on ice: ringette.

"She has fun here and she's competitive with the girls she plays with," said Terry, while watching his daughter practice at an arena in Richmond Hill.

Following the practice, Maggie, now 10, had a simple explanation why she likes ringette more than hockey.

"It's not as aggressive," she said taking a gulp of blue Gatorade.

Not long ago, ringette was essentially hockey's sister sport: the boys played hockey and the girls played ringette.

But in recent years, participation in ringette has taken a hit as more and more girls opt to play hockey.

The shift towards hockey has been helped along by the growing profile of women's hockey on the international stage, specifically its inclusion as an event in the Winter Olympics.

Nevertheless, ringette continues to maintain a solid level of participation.

"Across Canada there is probably 25,000 registered players, so it's quite a big sport," said Alayne Martell, ringette coach and spokesperson for Ringette Canada. "Throughout the year there are provincial tournaments at various (skill) levels.

"And in April each year, there is the National Championship which bounces around the country."

Ringette is a truly Canadian sport. It was invented in 1963 in North Bay, Ontario by a sports enthusiast named Sam Jacks, who saw the need for a winter sport for females.

The sport has some similarities to hockey. It's played on ice with skates and sticks by six players on each of two teams. And the players' mission is to score goals by shooting the object of play into nets at either end of the rink during stop-time periods of play.

But that's where the comparisons really end. The stick is straight (no blade). The object being pursued by players is a rubber ring, not a puck. There is no intentional body contact. There are two 20-minute periods. And the rules of ringette make it a wide-open and dynamic sport.

The emphasis is on play-making and skating skills. Players cannot carry the ring across the blue lines, they have to pass it across.

"Ringette is good in that encourages passing," said Terry Sedor. "So you can't get someone really good carrying (the ring) all the ring all the way down the ice."

Only three players from each team, plus the defending goalie, are allowed in the end zones at the same time, which keeps the play open, puts a premium on sharp offensive moves, and requires defending players to skate close to their opponents.

"It's a faster game and there is more skating than hockey," said Tom Kulesh, who has coached ringette in Richmond Hill for four years. "So it develops kids skating skills better."

Like hockey, ringette leagues are split up by age and skill (i.e. "A", "B", "C"). Instead of mite, novice, atom, bantam, midget and junior, ringette has bunny, novice, petite, tween and junior.

Kulesh's 11-year-old daughter Sasha plays the center ice position on his petite "C" team, the Richmond Hill Lightning. This year, Sasha began playing hockey for the first time.

"The skating skills she has developed in ringette have really helped her in hockey," said Kulesh.

Now that she has tried both, if Sasha had to choose between the two sports, what would she choose?

"I think I'd rather play ringette," she said.

Theresa Bubis's 10-year-old daughter Maddy plays on the same team.

"A lot of girls are now playing hockey," said Theresa. "But if they've played ringette, they tend to come back."

Although it may not as aggressive as hockey, ringette is not any easier. Because there are no offsides and no body contact to slow down players, ringette is faster, more wide-open and is arguably more aerobically challenging.

"If it was easy, they'd call it hockey. That's what we say," said Anne Shorkey, whose daughter Allyson, 10, plays on Richmond Hill's petite "A" team, also called the Lightning.

Because there aren't as many girls playing ringette, teams in many leagues across the country have to travel longer distances to play games. It's not as easy going to one's local rink.

Participation in ringette would undoubtedly grow if it were to become an Olympic event. However, to do so, more countries have to develop national team programs.

"They're talking about getting (ringette) as demonstration sport in the near future," said Martell. "A lot of the Canadian players work with countries like Japan to develop programs to get the amount of countries participating up."

Besides Canada, ringette is played on an organized basis in the United States, Finland, Sweden, France and Russia.

Currently, Finland and Canada are the top two countries in the sport. Both have strong national teams which usually meet in the finals of the World Ringette Championship.

The World Championship started in 1990 and is held in November every two years. There have been five world championships to date (a summit series between Canada and Finland was held in 1998). Canada has won three and Finland has won two.

Finland is the current champion having defeated Canada at home in 2000. The next World Championship will be in Edmonton this November.

For more information about ringette, check out the Ringette Canada website.

Reed Holmes can be reached at rholmes@tsnmax.ca.