Rink bandy

Rink bandy and rinkball are variants of bandy played on significantly smaller ice rinks. While a bandy rink 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. With the arrival of indoor ice hockey arenas, it was a way for bandy players to practice on ice a longer time of the year; as bandy fields are larger, they were still only made outdoors in the wintertime when artificial freezing was not necessary.

The game uses a bandy ball and bandy sticks. The goalkeeper has no stick. As in hockey, a game lasts 60 minutes, but is composed of either two 30 minute halves or three 20 minute periods. Similar rules to normal 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, there are fewer players, normally six a side. In the USA Rink Bandy League, five players are used because of the smaller ice hockey rinks there.