FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Seth Jones had waited most of his life to get a Stanley Cup ring. And then he had to wait even longer before he could see it.
The Florida Panthers handed out the rings from their second consecutive title on Monday, and Jones was the first person on the long list of players, coaches and staff who got the prized pieces of jewelry during the ceremony.
But the Panthers have a rule: Nobody opens the box until everybody can open the box together. So, Jones — who joined the team midway through last season — had to wait … and wait … and wait … before he and everyone else got to see the new shiny bauble.
“Awesome,” Jones said. “It’s a collection piece for the rest of my life.â€
Among the highlights of the ring: A play on the speeches that Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett gave at the Stanley Cup parade, where they both gleefully pointed out that they apologize to no one for the Panthers being the Panthers. That phrasing is etched on the inside of the ring, which has more than 250 diamonds and rubies and is created out of white and yellow gold.
On the sides of the players’ rings: Their name and number on one side, along with the team logo and “back-to-back champions†on the other.
“It’s just a little bit bigger than last year,†Panthers forward Sam Bennett said as he gazed down, with the two rings on one of his hands. “You got the two Cups on there, which is unbelievable. They definitely outdid themselves, for sure.”
The Panthers did the ceremony in private, with the players all in dark suits and red ties. The celebration for fans comes Tuesday, when the team will raise the banner before its opener at home against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The ownership group — Vincent and Teresa Viola and their families — presented their rings to one another, and then the word finally came to open the boxes.
“I never believed that owning a sports team could be as invigorating, as heart-touching, that you’d care about the players when they get hurt,” said Teresa Viola, the wife of team owner Vincent Viola said. “You want to run down there like a mom and just go, ‘My goodness, are you OK?†This team has shown me the spirit of togetherness, family, everything that I hoped it would be.â€
All the trophies from last season were on a table near the stage. There were the two won by captain Aleksander Barkov — the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s best defensive forward and the King Clancy in recognition of his leadership and humanitarian work on and off the ice. There was the Conn Smythe Trophy, the one Bennett got as MVP of the playoffs. There was the Prince of Wales Trophy, which the Panthers have won in each of the last three seasons as Eastern Conference champions.
And, of course, there was the Stanley Cup. The Panthers have taken it everywhere for the better part of the last 3 1/2 months — hospitals, fire houses, fishing trips, even eaten meatballs out of the thing — and now start the quest toward trying to win it again.
The rings have been handed out. The banner goes up on Tuesday. There will be reminders along the way, like taking a ring to the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Stanley Cup Final rematches with Edmonton, rematches of playoff matchups. But the Panthers know it’s time to turn the page to what awaits.
“Dealing with that and not living in the past is very important,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “But also, we want to make sure that weâ€re not mandating that. Itâ€s OK to enjoy tonight. And itâ€s OK when we have to do other things that bring us back. Weâ€re just not having a reunion every day that we come to the rink.â€
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