Lord of the bling

Jun. 15, 2006. 01:00 AM
The Toronto Star
BUSINESS REPORTER
Rick Westhead

When the siren sounds on the Stanley Cup final, another less publicized annual hockey skirmish will be picking up steam: the fight between jewellery companies to make championship rings for the winners.

Making rings for pro sports teams is a long-standing ritual that has become big business.

In 1893, the Montreal AAAs awarded each of its seven players a plain gold ring inscribed with crossed hockey sticks after the team claimed the inaugural Stanley Cup.

Fast forward a century and times have certainly changed.

When the Tampa Bay Lightning won the NHL title in 2003-'04, the team ordered gold rings that featured 138 diamonds apiece, including a host of rare blue diamonds — sent to Israel to be "radiated" to give them their unusual hue — making up the Stanley Cup on each ring.

Nowadays, pro sports teams are buying championship rings that are sometimes appraised for as much as $30,000, which means orders can run well into the millions of dollars.

In a twist fitting for the sports industry, where most everyone loves an underdog, an upstart Calgary company called Intergold Ltd. is fast becoming a force in the niche business.

Founded by 51-year-old Miran Armutlu, who moved to Canada with his family from Armenia when he was a child, Intergold has become the NHL ring-maker of choice in an industry that for decades was dominated by larger American firms such as Jostens, a Minnesota company that also produces high school and college yearbooks.

Intergold has created rings for the past three Stanley Cup winners, including the Lightning.

It won't be long after the Stanley Cup is presented to this year's winner that Armutlu's company and its rivals will start their sales pitch.

"They're pretty aggressive," Lightning president Ronald Campbell said. "I might have had messages from them on my voice mail even before Game 7."

The Lightning, which beat the Calgary Flames in seven games to claim the franchise's first Stanley Cup, hired Intergold because of positive reviews from its customers and because the jewellery concern was willing to produce more than a dozen ring prototypes for the team. NHL teams can give out the rings to anyone, and some clubs have awarded toned-down versions of championship rings to scouts, arena staff, retired players and even long-time season-ticket holders. (Not all Stanley Cup winners have awarded rings to players. The Montreal AAAs handed out watches after its second Cup win, and the 1915 Stanley Cup recipients, the Vancouver Millionaires, gave players medallions, Hockey Digest magazine reported.)

To be sure, some players and team executives are willing to part with their rings for a price. An unnamed former member of the Boston Bruins recently listed for sale on eBay his championship ring from the 1972 season, when Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito guided the team to a win over the New York Rangers. The asking price: $13,500 (U.S.)

"There is so much hard work that goes into getting these rings that you hate to hear about situations like that," Campbell said. "I'd never consider selling my ring. But everybody has their challenges. Every day you hear about a tough-luck story."

Still, while most recipients probably wouldn't sell their rings, that doesn't mean everyone is enamoured of them.

Detroit Red Wings defenceman Chris Chelios has two Cup rings — one he received as a member of the Red Wings and the other with the Montreal Canadiens — but he doesn't wear either. Chelios said he gave both to his father, Kostaf, a retired Chicago restaurateur.

"They've gotten pretty gaudy," Chelios said. "They're so heavy that it's almost impractical to wear them. But it's not like anyone's going to say they don't want them."

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