Part four of a six-part series
Q: How are the rules for female ice hockey different than the rules for male's hockey? What is the reason for the difference?
A: Male and female hockey teams will compete in round robins, leading to elimination finals at the Canada Winter Games.
According to Hockey Canada's rule book, there are several differences in rules for male and female hockey.
Female hockey players are required to wear more protective equipment than males, including CSA-approved full-face protectors and BNQ-approved throat protectors at all levels.
In female hockey, as in minor hockey, if a player or team official is assessed a game misconduct or gross misconduct penalty in the last 10 minutes of regular time, during overtime, at the end of the game or while entering the dressing room they are automatically suspended for the next regular season or playoff game - or a period of seven days.
However, the biggest difference between male and female hockey is what physical contact is allowed between players.
In female hockey any intentional body checks, bumps, shoves or pushes against an opposing player result in a minor (two-minute) penalty - and potentially a major or game misconduct penalty if the player is injured or at the discretion of the referee.
While body contact is allowed between players, defending players are not allowed to collide with attacking players by moving in an opposing direction. However, attacking players may move into contact with a defending player.
Women have been playing organized hockey in Canada since at least the 1890s.
Lady Isobel Stanley - later Lady Isobel Gathorne-Hardy - daughter of former Governor General Lord Stanley of Preston (yes, that Lord Stanley), was an early pioneer of women's hockey during her time in Canada.
Since 2000, an award has been presented in her name to an outstanding female hockey player at any level, who exemplifies leadership and values in sport.
So many people might be surprised to know the current ban on body checking in women's hockey dates to the 1990s, and isn't a holdover from the past.
After the International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship in 1990 in Ottawa, the federation banned body checking in women's hockey.
Trying to find an official explanation for the rules difference, and why the IIHF changed the rules following the 1990 Women's World Championship, is very difficult.
The two theories commonly proposed are: 1) basic sexism and a desire to make the female sport 'gentler' than the male version and 2) that allowing checking would only further increase the international dominance of North American teams, preventing development of the sport in Europe and elsewhere.
However, it is a fluid issue and as a new generation of girls and women take up the sport perhaps that will change.
Q: How does the scoring work in judo? How do you determine a winner?
A: Judo is a Japanese wrestling sport of pins and throws.
The Canada Winter Games will feature male and female individual competitions in seven weight categories,with different weight categories for men and women. There will also be a men's and women's team event, with three to five members on the team.
Each bout will last four minutes, and will be judged according to International Judo Federation rules.
In judo a competitor (called a judoka) wins a match by scoring an ippon - one full point.
According to International Judo Federation rules, a contestant scores an ippon if they throw their opponent "largely on his [or her] back with considerable force and speed."
An ippon is also scored if a competitor pins an opponent down on his or her back and at least one shoulder using osaekomi-waza -pinning techniques -for at least 25 seconds.
Judokas score a waza-ari (half-point) if they throw an opponent, but the throw partially lacks either speed, force or the opponent didn't land largely on their back.
A waza-ari is also scored by pinning an opponent using osaekomi-waza for 20 or more seconds, but not the full 25 seconds needed for an ippon.
A competitor who scores two waza-ari in a match wins.
A throw partially lacking in two of the three things necessary for ippon - speed, force and landing on the back -or a pin of at least 15 seconds, but not 20, scores a yuko.
No number of yukos add up to a waza-ari, but they are recorded.
Any throw or pin which doesn't meet the standard of a yuko is called a kinsa.
If an opponent commits a major rules infraction (a hansoku-make), they automatically are disqualified.
If a judo commits a minor infraction (a shido), they are added up. Two shido count as a yuko for their opponent. Three shido equal a waza-ari and four shidos in a single match disqualify the competitor.
A competitor can also tap out or surrender to their opponent. Or the officials can end a match if a judoka is injured and needs medical attention.
If the match ends without either opponent scoring an ippon or equivalent, then the scores of the competitors are compared.
A waza-ari wins over any number of yuko, but if both competitors have the same number waza-ari (zero or one), the competitor with more yukos wins.
If the judokas are still tied, then an encho-sen - golden score, or sudden death - competition will be held. The encho-sen competition is just like a regular match, but as soon as one player scores any point that breaks the tie (ippon, waza-ari or yuko) the match is over and the competitor who scored wins.
If the encho-sen competition ends and there is still a tie, then the match will be decided by hantei -basically the judges examine the performance of the competitors and determine a winner. Kinsas may be counted for the purpose of determining the winner in a hantei situation.
In short, judokas win a match by throwing their opponent or pinning them on their back.
Q: What is ringette? How is it played?
A: Ringette is the only sport at the Canada Winter Games that will be played by girls only.
According to Ringette Canada, Ringette was invented in 1963 in North Bay, Ont. The game was developed as a hockey-like game for girls, and continues to be played primarily by girls and women.
Over 50,000 people participate in ringette across Canada.
Ringette is similar to hockey in many respects. It is played on ice while wearing skates, with two teams of six: a goalie, two defencemen, three forwards.
The main difference is that instead of a puck, a rubber ring is used. Players can carry or pass the ring using a straight stick -similar to a hockey stick, but without the curved end.
Unlike hockey, players must pass the ring across either blue line -the lines which divide the rink into thirds. If a player carries the ring across a blue line, their team loses possession.
Even less physical contact is allowed in ringette than in women's hockey. And ringette has a zero-tolerance rule for fighting.
Once a player captures the ring on the end of their stick, it takes less skill to carry it along than puck handling does in hockey. This allows players to focus on skating and passing, which has earned the game the nickname "the fastest game on ice."
Do you have questions about events in the news? Are you puzzled by some local oddity? Does something you've seen, heard or read just not make sense? Email your questions to [email protected], and award-winning investigative reporter Arthur Williams will try to get to the bottom of it.
