Seth Jones Takes Stanley Cup Home Where Hockey Dream Began

Seth Jones fell in love with hockey as a youngster in the Dallas area, the Stars winning the Stanley Cup in 1999 helping fuel that passion for the sport.

Thursday, Jones brought the Stanley Cup back to Dallas — and to the rink where it all began for him.

Jones, the Florida Panthers defenseman, spent nearly two hours at the StarCenter Valley Ranch in Irving where, according to NHL.com, he spent over two hours at the local rink taking pictures with players in the program as well as signing autographs and posing the with the Stanley Cup.

“I spent a lot of time here for a lot of different coaches, lot of different teams,” Jones said per NHL.com.

“Without the development of Texas youth hockey and the growth that we’ve seen over the last 10, 15 years, I know I wouldn’t be standing here today. I wanted to give back, show the kids here that just because it’s not a huge hockey market, things are still possible. You can still make the NHL.”

As was the case the night the Panthers won the Stanley Cup in Sunrise on June 17, Jones was flanked by family — including his brother Caleb, a former teammate in Chicago who recently signed with the Penguins — on this return home to north Texas.

Acquired by the Panthers at the trade deadline for Spencer Knight and a first-round pick, the former Blackhawks defenseman said he could not find the right words to describe what winning the Stanley Cup meant last month.

“We did it with an unbelievable group of guys here,’’ Jones said after Game 6 agains the Oilers.

“The first day I got here, I knew it was special. You can feel it in the locker room, throughout the organization. Everyone loves each other. It’s just an unbelievable group.

“Then, these are moments you dream about. Moments we all worked so hard to. And they do not happen often.”

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