MANCHESTER, NH – After 18 years of operation that played across two different leagues, one AHL Calder Cup championship and a number of very notable alumni who went on to star in the NHL, the curtain came down on the Manchester Monarchs franchise Wednesday morning.
Following months of speculation about the fate of the ECHL team, its ownership announced via an open letter to its fans and partners that the Monarchs have ceased operations effective immediately. The team’s final game was Game 6 of the North Division finals where Manchester fell to the Newfoundland Growlers and were ousted from the 2019 ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs.
The letter, posted to the team’s website, made the announcement. In part it read:
“On behalf of the entire Monarchs organization, the coaching staff, the players, the front office and Max (mascot), we’d like to thank you for 18 great seasons.
Your enthusiasm and support has been great and is appreciated by all of us. After many years of investment and financial support, first from the Los Angeles Kings organization, and ultimately by a subsequent investor group, and after seeking assistance from the City, State and the [SNHU] Arena, we have collectively decided that this was our final season.”
Originally founded in 1999 by Howard Baldwin and the Manchester Hockey Group LLC and later purchased by the Los Angeles Kings in June of 2000, the AHL incarnation of the Monarchs saw a great deal of success. One regular season title, four division championships and one conference championship sit on the franchise’s resume. The crowning achievement came at the end of the 2014-15 season when Manchester won its one and only Calder Cup championship, defeating the Utica Comets four games to one.
That 2014-15 season was the final one for the Monarchs in the AHL. Midway through the year, the Kings announced that Manchester and LA’s ECHL affiliate in Ontario, CA would be switching leagues with the Reign becoming the Kings AHL affiliate as part of the NHL’s “western migration” of AHL teams while the Monarchs would drop to the double-A ECHL.
The ECHL Monarchs did well in their first season, winning the East division crown before falling to Adirondack in the first round of the playoffs. The following year, 2016-17, Manchester got all the way to the Eastern Conference finals before losing to the South Carolina Stingrays in a hard fought, seven game series.
It was during the off-season in 2016 that PPI Sports, LLC purchased the Monarchs from Los Angeles.
Despite posting winning records in all four of its ECHL campaigns, the fans of the AHL Monarchs did not accept the changing of leagues. After finishing the 2015-16 season with an average attendance of 4,622, the Monarchs saw declining attendance in each of their following years, culminating in an average attendance of 2,458 during the past season. Only Wheeling (2,265) had a lower average gate during the 2018-19 campaign.
Among the players who went on to NHL stardom after playing for the Monarchs are goalies Jonathan Quick and Jonathan Bernier and skaters Paul Bissonette, Dustin Brown, Mike Cammalleri, Alec Martinez, Jake Muzzin, Brayden Schenn and Tyler Toffoli among others. Several former Monarchs including Quick, Brown, Martinez and Toffoli went on to win Stanley Cups with the Kings.
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