  Tampa Bay Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk hoists the Stanley Cup after beating the Calgary Flames in seven games last spring. The Lightning players will receive their Stanley Cup rings today -- they were produced by Calgary company Intergold Ltd. (Calgary Sun File Photo) |
Calgary may have lost the Stanley Cup but the Stampede City is still playing a role in the Tampa Bay Lightning celebration.
Miran Armutlu headed to Florida last night to deliver the official championship rings to the Lightning.
"They have rubbed it in a few times that I was coming from Calgary," the president and CEO of Intergold Ltd. said with a laugh.
It's the third straight year the local company has designed and produced the rings for the Stanley Cup champs. This one was bittersweet, however, as Calgary lost last spring's championship final series in seven games.
"Everybody in town, including us, was cheering for the Flames," Armutlu said. "There's two perspectives -- a fan's perspective and a business perspective. From a business perspective, it's great our designs keep winning these accounts.
"I've got to put the fan aside and be a businessman."
It's the second time in a month Intergold has presented a major championship team with rings. The company also produced the memento for the NBA champion Detroit Pistons.
Armutlu, who can't release any details on the design or unveil the value of each ring, said the biggest drawback for him is the distance between Calgary and Tampa.
He's travelled to and from the Florida city on a weekly basis.
"The biggest sufferer in all this is my back, sitting on airplanes every week to go to Tampa. It's a long trip," he said.
Intergold produced rings for the 2003 New Jersey Devils and 2002 Detroit Red Wings; the World Series champion Florida Marlins (2003) and Anaheim Angels (2002), and the 2002 Olympic hockey champion Team Canada (men's and women's).
"We're establishing a pretty consistent record with teams," Armutlu said.
Next up, he hopes, would be another contract -- seeing as the Boston Red Sox just claimed their first World Series crown since 1918.
"We're talking," Armutlu said.
