When she was a senior in high school in 1996, Botterill moved to Calgary and attended the National Sports School where she caught the attention of national-level coaches. With an Olympic year approaching, Botterill decided to forego college for one year and move to Calgary to train with the national team.

"Everyone from the team moved to Calgary for the year and were training full time on the ice everyday and working out in the afternoon. It was quite intense." Botterill said. "We had to push each other every day, but it was great."

Once on their respective national teams, Botterill and Ruggiero spent the rest of the year training at the Olympic Oval in Calgary and Lake Placid in upstate New York, traveling for exhibition games against men's teams and other national squads. The schedule included many scrimmages between Canada and the United States, though Ruggiero and Botterill never met.

At Nagano, Canada was picked to be among the strongest teams in the tournament, but the United States still had much to prove. When the finals came, however, it was a North American duel. Team USA came out on top, 3-1.

"There is so much excitement, so much pressure and so much crowd support at the Olympics," Botterill said. "It had been a dream of mine since I was really small to go to the Olympics and represent Canada, so to get there it was incredible."

For Ruggiero, the Olympics were about more than a gold medal.

"I hung out with Jeremy Roenick and Tony Amonte--they were my two buds. Mike Richter was also nice, but Mike Modano and Keith Tchachuck were not so cool," Ruggiero said.