Where did the Beast go?

[netterau]

I've always wondered what happened to The Beast of New Haven, the first minor league affiliate of the Canes! Did they tranform into Lowell, and if that was the case, why? Was the attendance poor in New Haven?

And secondly, whatever happened to Canes prospect Ashlin Halfknight? Remember checking out the Beasts' homepage a few years ago and it stated he had a new rock-cd out - he had two careers I assume.... :cool:

Would be enormously glad if anyone would shed some light... :D

cheers, n.

[netterau]

Oh about Halfnight do not bother... found out that he ended up in Germany's BundesLeague and probably quit after that! :sad:

Still curious about the Beast though... :spin:

cheers, n.

[CallMeThrasher]

From:
http://www.greensborohockey.com

The series of events that led to their birth began as their predecessors, the Greensboro Monarchs, were still playing in the ECHL.

It all began during the 1995 ECHL All-Star Game in Greensboro. During a meeting of the league's Board of Governors, Dayton Bombers Owner and President of the Board of Governors Bud Gingher and ECHL Commisioner Pat Kelley propose merging the league with the American Hockey League.

Under the proposal, the International Hockey League would lose all it's NHL affiliations and the AHL would become the top minor-league in the country.

This plan would unravel at another Board of Governors meeting in Charlotte two months later, but the winds of change were still blowing.

Greensboro was playing in a newly-renovated Coliseum, expanded to 21,000 seats for hockey. With no real chance of landing an NBA or NFL team, former Greensboro Mayor Jim Melvin approached Monarchs Owner Bill Black about bringing the hockey team to a higher league.

"I felt all along we had the finest major-league hockey facility in the country. We didn't have to build it; we already got it" Melvin was quoted as saying.

"That prompted me to encourage them to see if they couldn't move to a higher league".

On March 13th, 1995, less than a week after the merger talks with the AHL fell apart, AHL President Dave Andrews talked to Greensboro, Charleston, Raleigh, Charlotte, Hampton Roads and Richmond about bolting for the American League. Andrews even offered to waive the usual $1 million expansion fee if at least four teams made the jump.

Just one week after that, the ECHL Board of Governors hold a very contentious meeting. An accusation was made that the Monarchs ownership was lobbying other teams from the league's Eastern Division to move to the American League.

During the meeting, Gingher is asked to resign as President of the board for bringing the AHL issue to the table in the first place.

"Greensboro is trying to kill this league", Roanoke President John Gagnon said.

"I don't care if they do go to the AHL. They can go alone."

Originally, the Monarchs ownership group considered the AHL proposal a long-term plan. Now, with all the animosity towards Greensboro over the issue, their efforts intensified.

On March 24th, the Monarchs entered into an agreement to purchase the Raleigh IceCaps, presumably to take them to the AHL with them.

The next day, with Charlotte, Charleston, Richmond and Hampton Roads still on the fence about leaving the ECHL, the AHL's executive committee rejects Greensboro's bid to join the American League, even with Raleigh in tow, without paying the $1 million dollar expansion fee. At that point, the Monarchs opt out of their agreement to buy the IceCaps.

The Monarchs decide to pay the expansion fee and move to the AHL alone. On June 6th, 1995, a bizarre six-month journey ended as they are granted an AHL franchise.

"The thought was that we were looking 3-5 years down the road," said Howard Williams, the team's attorney who handled the negotiations with the AHL. "That's what's really ironic about it."

The next day, a press conference is held at the Coliseum to announce the move. Florida Panthers General Manager Bryan Murray is there to help announce a five-year affiliation agreement with the team.

It is also announced that, in an effort to make the team more appealing to areas outside the city, the name of the team would be changed from Greensboro Monarchs to Carolina Monarchs. They will play in the Southern Division, along with the Hershey Bears, Baltimore Bandits and Binghamton Rangers.

After the Monarchs completed the 96-97 season, the Coliseum exercised the option in their lease that allowed them to evict the team if Greensboro ever secured an NHL team. At the time, no one could have imagined that that clause would ever have been used, but the Hartford Whalers were moving south and needed a place to play while their arena was being built in Raleigh. The Carolina Hurricanes would begin play in the Coliseum in the fall of 1997.

Monarchs owner Bill Black worked out an agreement with the Hurricanes, leasing them the team for two seasons with an option to sell for $2 million at the end of that time.

The Monarchs moved to New Haven, Connecticut and played the next two seasons as the Beast of New Haven. After the Hurricanes moved to Raleigh, Black briefly explored the possibility of selling shares of the Monarchs to the public. After that fell through, he exercised the option to sell the team to the Hurricanes, who promptly folded it.

[netterau]

Thank you very much for your help, CMT! :D