The Washington Capitals will raise a Stanley Cup banner Wednesday night at Capital One Arena before their opening night game against the Boston Bruins. But first, on Monday evening, they received their championship rings and got to finally see their names engraved on the Cup.
First, the Cup engraving, which features 52 names of players and staff, the maximum allowed.
New names on the 🏆#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/Vr89VUpICP
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 1, 2018
(That’s not “Olif” Kolzig. It’s “Olie.”)
A player needs to have played in at least 41 regular season games or one Stanley Cup Final game to get his named on the Cup. Teams can petition for extra players to be added, like the Boston Bruins did for Marc Savard in 2011.
Now, take a look at this bling, which, according to Jostens, the 14-karat white and yellow gold rings feature 230 round diamonds and 22 princess cut diamonds with a 5.5 carat weight.
More details:
The ring top features the Capitals logo created from red and blue enamel and is surrounded by 27 pavé-set diamonds, all of which is encircled by 28 custom taper-cut rubies. The three star-shaped rubies set above the logo are inspired by the Washington DC flag, where the stars represent Washington DC, Virginia, and Maryland. An additional 157 diamonds create a cascading waterfall effect down the sides of the ring top. Dual rows of channel-set princess-cut diamonds accent the top and bottom of the ring top, each row containing 11 diamonds, making for a total of 22. The words “STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS” are set in yellow gold and strikingly complete the ring top.
The left side of the ring features the player’s name set above the Capitol building, which is created in stunning detail from 14-karat white gold. A custom-cut star shaped ruby and sapphire are set on either side of the Capitol building. The player’s numbers are set to the right with stones ranging from 7 to 18 diamonds.
The right side of the ring features the year date 2018, which is set with an additional 26 diamonds. Below that is the famous Stanley Cup created in white gold and set with 20 diamonds and one star-shaped ruby, which represents the team’s first Stanley Cup Championship. Two additional star-shaped rubies flank either side of the Stanley Cup and commemorate the Capitals’ two Eastern Conference Championships. The words “WASHINGTON DC” appear above it all, paying homage to the home base of the franchise and the extraordinary privilege of honoring the nation’s capital.
The interior of the ring is engraved with the Capitals’ logo surrounded by the logos and series scores from their journey to making history as Stanley Cup champions for the very first time.
Capitals owner Ted Leonsis has already stated that every Monumental Sports and Entertainment employee who worked for the company on June 7, the night the team clinched the Cup inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, will receive a ring. That’s about 500 to be given away. Sweet job perk.
MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.
