FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — 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.”
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.”
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 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 we’re not mandating that. It’s OK to enjoy tonight. And it’s OK when we have to do other things that bring us back. We’re just not having a reunion every day that we come to the rink.”
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
FILE - Florida Panthers center Brad Marchand skates with the Stanley Cup after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media that the U.S. Coast Guard had boarded the Motor Tanker Veronica early Thursday. She said the ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”
U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”
Noem posted a brief video that appeared to show part of the ship’s capture. The black-and-white footage showed helicopters hovering over the deck of a merchant vessel while armed troops dropped down on the deck by rope.
The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.
The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, it was partially filled with crude.
The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.
According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for moving cargoes of illicit Russian oil.
As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”
However, other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear that they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.
Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.
This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro's capture and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)
