The two former PoCo ringette stars were recognized earlier this summer, when Ringette Canada honoured the 1996 and 2002 Canadian teams that were world champions.

Townsend, a Brookswood resident who rose up the ringette ladder and played it to the elite international level, was known as Tracy Crowe back then.

A national calibre player, she played - and continues to play, this time as a coach - a major role in B.C. joining the mostly Alberta and Ontario juggernauts in the medal hunt.

"Ringette has helped so many people grow up," she said of the sport. "I am confident, ambitious, determined, work well with all sorts of characters, can deal with adversity, and I could go on forever..."

She said the credit for developing her and her teammates development as players and people belongs to her father, Greg Crowe.

She was a late pick-up for Team Alberta that went on to defeat Finland in the final in 1996.

A goaltender, Ball went through a year-long grueling tryout process to make the 2002 squad, which again edged archrival Finland for the world title.

Both have fond memories of the teams.

"When you travel for a month with a group of people that are some individually unique and skilled, the memories come fast and furious," recalled Townsend. "We were very close, our saying was 'heart-pace-power.' We were probably the funniest people for miles. I remember laughing a lot."

Canada needed overtime to defeat the Finns that time around, with the foundation of the club coming from Alberta, which had won the nationals the previous year.

Prior to 2002, the national program had incorporated a true national team process, with numerous tryouts across the country.

Ball said that exercise, which involved a lot of travelling and training before ending up in Edmonton with a 3-1 triumph, was the most memorable part for her.

"It's way up there as an accomplishment," she recalled. "It was more than the championship, but the whole process that stands out, just getting there. We had players from all over, the coaching staff and training staff were just amazing."

She didn't play in the final but was a standout in an earlier victory over Sweden.

"Once you get to the world championships, the competition is just Finland. The other teams weren't that strong," she said. "That final was a pretty cautious, real tight game."

Townsend recently took over the head coaching duties of the Fraser Valley Avalanche of the National Ringette League.

"This is my greatest achievement," Townsend noted. "I am a world champion - in the sports world that title is a big deal. What makes being on the [1996] team special to me is the fact that they were already a great team, they had won the rights to be called Team Canada.

"They were not required to add anyone to their roster but they chose me to be on their team. Out of every ringette player in Canada they called me. That is very special and I would have walked barefoot across broken glass to be with them, too."

- Dan Olson is a Coquitlam Now reporter