Rink bandy
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Rink bandy is a variant of the larger sport of bandy. Unlike bandy which is played on a large bandy field, rink bandy is played on significantly smaller ice hockey-sized ice rinks.
Highest governing body | Federation of International Bandy |
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First played | 1960's in Sweden |
Characteristics | |
Contact | No |
Team members | 5-6 players per side |
Type | |
Equipment |
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Venue | Ice rink |
Presence | |
Country or region | Sweden, Russia, Finland, USA |
Olympic | No |
Paralympic | No |
While a bandy field is about the same size as a football pitch, rink bandy is played on ice hockey rinks.
Rink bandy originated in Sweden in the 1960s and was originally called hockeybockey.[1] With the arrival of indoor ice hockey arenas, it was a way for bandy players to practice on ice for a longer time through the year by making use of the new indoor facilities. Since bandy fields are much larger than ice hockey rinks, playing surfaces for bandy were still only made outdoors in the wintertime when artificial freezing was unnecessary.
The game of rink bandy uses a bandy ball and bandy sticks. The goalkeeper has no stick. A rink bandy game lasts 60 minutes but is composed of either two 30 minute halves or three 20 minute periods. Similar rules to bandy are used, but they are simplified to increase the pace of the game. Checking is prohibited, making the sport relatively safer than its relatives.
Because of the smaller playing area used in rink bandy compared to its larger parent sport, there are fewer players, normally six a side. In America, the USA Rink Bandy League, uses five players instead of the usual six because of the smaller ice hockey rinks in the USA.