The Vegas Golden Knights received their 2023 Stanley Cup championship rings, filled with symbolism and surprises, during a ceremony Sunday night.
The Golden Knights, who won their first Stanley Cup in five games over the Florida Panthers in June, held their championship ring ceremony at Wynn Las Vegas, where players, coaches and hockey operations staff were given their hardware.
The rings were designed in collaboration with Jason of Beverly Hills, which has crafted championship rings for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, among others.
“Knowing the track record of Jason of Beverly Hills, I was confident that they could create a ring as distinctive as our city and as spectacular as the season this team put together,” Golden Knights owner Bill Foley said in a statement. “It’s clear they exceeded expectations and created a design I am sure our players, staff, and fans will cherish.”
In true Las Vegas fashion, the rings have plenty of bling and over-the-top features, including a detachable top that can be worn as a pendant, with the words “It’s Knight Time” on the back. When the top is removed, it reveals a replica of T-Mobile Arena, the Golden Knights’ home rink. The center ice logo on the mini rink looks as it did for the 2023 Stanley Cup Final. Small stars mark the location of each of the team’s nine goals in the Cup-clinching Game 5 against the Panthers.
The rings contain approximately 12 carats of white and yellow diamonds. There are 67 white diamonds set on the Knights’ primary logo, representing the total wins they had in the regular season and playoffs. The 32 diamonds on the inner bezel represent the NHL’s 32 teams. The 0.54 carats of diamonds on the Stanley Cup pay tribute to the team’s 54 all-time playoff wins.
There are six stones surrounding the diamond Stanley Cup on the side of the ring, representing the franchise’s six seasons since entering the NHL as an expansion team in 2017-18.
Those diamonds are set in the shape of a star, as seen in the team’s “Vegas Strong” banner from 2017 that paid tribute to the victims of the Route 91 Harvest music festival shooting on the Las Vegas Strip. The Golden Knights have reflected on that tragedy, which occurred on Oct. 1, 2017, throughout their time in the NHL. The franchise honored victims and first responders before its first home game on Oct. 10, 2017.
The team’s slogans “Vegas Born” and “Always Advance” are on each side of the ring, which also includes a depiction of the Las Vegas skyline.
Inside the band is another team slogan: “Cup in Six,” which references the bold prediction made by Foley before the Golden Knights hit the ice as an expansion team — and won the Stanley Cup six seasons later.
The Golden Knights are having 50 rings made for the public that are almost identical to those the players received. They will sell for $75,000 each.
The team will raise its 2023 Stanley Cup championship banner on Tuesday when it hosts the Seattle Kraken (ESPN, ESPN+).
Source: www.espn.com