The Carolina Monarchs were a short-lived

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

. They played in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...

, at the

Greensboro Coliseum First Horizon Coliseum (formerly Greensboro Coliseum) is an arena in Greensboro, North Carolina. Opened in 1959 as the first building of the Greensboro Complex, the 22,000-seat arena is the home arena of the UNC Greensboro Spartans basketball t ...

, succeeding the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

Greensboro Monarchs, some of whose owners accepted an expansion proposal from the AHL to start play in the 1995-96 season. Just two seasons later, though, the

Hartford Whalers The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its 25-year existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1 ...

of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

announced that they would play in the

for the 1997–98 and 1998-99 seasons as the newly named

Carolina Hurricanes The Carolina Hurricanes (colloquially known as the Canes) are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Hurricanes compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Con ...

, awaiting their permanent home arena's construction in Raleigh. The NHL team purchased the dethroned Monarchs, moving the franchise to

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

, where the team played as the Beast of New Haven.

History

The market was previously served by: * Carolina Thunderbirds/Winston-Salem Thunderbirds ( ACHL, AAHL,

) (1981–1992) * Greensboro Monarchs (

) (1989–1995) The market was subsequently home to: * Greensboro Generals (

) (1999–2004) *

(

) (1997–1999)

Season-by-season results

* Carolina Monarchs 1995–1997 * Beast of New Haven 1997–1999

References

External links

Team History at HockeyDB.com
Defunct ice hockey teams in the United States Defunct American Hockey League teams Defunct ice hockey teams in North Carolina Ice hockey clubs established in 1995 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 1997 Florida Panthers minor league affiliates 1995 establishments in North Carolina 1997 disestablishments in North Carolina {{NorthCarolina-sport-team-stub