FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — It took Florida coach Paul Maurice 30 years to win a Stanley Cup championship ring. And after he was handed the box holding his new piece of jewelry Monday, he had to wait about 30 minutes before he could actually look at the prize.
The reason: The Panthers wanted the whole organization to see the rings together. It was worth the wait.
The Panthers handed out dozens of rings Monday at a private ceremony commemorating last season’s Stanley Cup title to players, coaches, team executives, members of the athletic training and medical staff, and more. But owners Vincent and Teresa Viola had one rule: Since, in their view, it took everyone in the organization banding together to win the Cup, everyone had to open the boxes at the same time.
“No peeking,” Vincent Viola said as he and his wife handed out the rings that their family designed. The rings contained 617 gemstones, mostly diamonds, weighing 15.6 carats, all set into yellow gold. They had the image of a rat etched on the inside of the band, a nod to the plastic toys that fans throw onto the home ice after wins.
Even the boxes were unique: The inside of the lid has a video screen that shows highlights of last season’s Cup run, as a small light shines onto the notch where the ring sits.
“You can just tell the love they put into making it,” Panthers hockey operations president and general manager Bill Zito said, as he proudly displayed his ring. “It’s really humbling and special.”
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Executives and staff got their rings first in small groups, followed by the players. The Violas wanted the players brought up individually, so they could express thanks to each one. And Vincent Viola dropped the hint to team captain Aleksander Barkov that he’d like to have another ring ceremony a year from now.
“We gotta go for No. 2, right?” he told Barkov.
The messages of thanks and congratulations continued throughout the ceremony while a spotlight shone on the Stanley Cup — on a table a few…
Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/41668422/panthers-receive-stanley-cup-championship-rings-ceremony
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Publish date : 2024-10-08 00:28:49
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