Los Angeles Monarchs The Los Angeles Monarchs were a professional ice hockey team , active from 1944 – 1950 , in the Pacific Coast Hockey League ( PCHL ) . The Monarchs are the only professional ice hockey team to win a league championship for the city of Los Angeles . They played in the southern division of the PCHL , alongside teams from the neighboring cities such as the Pasadena Panthers , the Hollywood Wolves , and the San Diego Skyhawks . The southern division also included the San Francisco Shamrocks , Oakland Oaks and , in 1947 , the Fresno Falcons . The Monarchs played their home games in the Pan Pacific Auditorium , which was located on Beverly Boulevard , next to the the Hollywood Stars baseball field and the nearby Gilmore Stadium where midget races were held . The Stadium was also the home field for the Loyola University football team and several professional football teams including , the Los Angeles Buldogs , Los Angeles Mustangs and the Hollywood Bears , in Los Angeles ' s Westside . As ice hockey was a new sport in Southern California , the team enjoyed a decent amount of popularity during its tenure in Los Angeles . Early L . A . Monarchs hockey clubs . The first Los Angeles Monarchs team was part of the Pacific Hockey League ( PHL ) in the 1920s . The PHL was more of an amateur level league made up of young and old players from Canada and the Northeastern United States . The teams were formed by local athletic clubs and league games were more like weekend recreational games , rather than a competition of professional contenders . By 1929 , at the dawn of the Great Depression , most of the teams folded . Only a few schools , most notably the University of Southern California , the University of California , Los Angeles and Loyola Marymount University still supported local hockey programs . Beginning in 1930 , after a large ice arena was built in Sacramento , California , attempts were made to re - form the league , but poor economic conditions , and a shortage of ice arenas stymied attempts and forced hockey organizations to compete on an amateur local level . Most clubs still in existence were either from colleges or small athletic associations . Since ice arenas were in short supply , games were played late at night and fan support was small . It wasn ’ t until 1938 , with the opening of the Pan Pacific Auditorium , when a new Los Angeles Monarchs team emerged . The Pan Pacific was capable of seating 6200 spectators for ice hockey games . The Monarchs shared the arena with the Hollywood Wolves and Pasadena Panthers . With three viable teams competing in Los Angeles , other teams in San Francisco , Sacramento , and Fresno joined to recreate the PHL . But the league was short - lived and again folded after the 1941 season . Los Angeles joins the Pacific Coast Hockey League . The Pacific Coast Hockey League ( PCHL ) has existed twice before , from 1928 – 31 , and from 1936 – 41 . The league first folded due to the Great Depression . In 1941 , U . S . and Canadian involvement in World War II forced it to shut down . The teams were all based in Western Canada and the U . S . Pacific Northwest . In 1944 , as signs indicated the war would be ending soon , and citizens would be able to resume normal life again , league owners decided to start the PCHL back up again . The Monarchs joined the re - born PCHL in 1944 . By this time there was a much larger number of people living in Southern California – in order to support the was industries and military bases – who had transplanted from the northeast U . S . , where hockey was very popular . These transplants created a much larger demand for ice hockey entertainment . The league wanted to expand south and take advantage of the growing economic and hockey fan base in California . Combined with the availability of larger ice rinks like the Pan Pacific ( in Los Angeles ) and the Cow Palace ( in South San Francisco ) , ice hockey games could be offered to spectators in larger numbers and at more convenient hours . Bringing Los Angeles its first hockey championship . The Monarchs were competitive during their years in the PCHL . Playing the majority of their games within their region reduced travel strains and helped keep the team better rested for play . Games results do reveal how travel affected the team , with most of its biggest losses coming on the road . The Monarchs won the President ’ s Cup for the league championship on April 5 , 1947 . The Monarch ' s championship title had some controversy , however , due to an illegal goaltender substitution earlier in the playoffs . While facing the cross town rival Hollywood Wolves , in game four of the best - of - five Southern Division title series , the Monarchs lost their goaltender , [ I question this since when I watched the Monarchs play Polich , a Loyola University graduate played forward . He was injured when kicked in the hand by an opposing player opening a large cut in the palm . [ Vic Polich ] ] , to injury . The Monarchs then borrowed San Diego Skyhawks goaltender Ron Pickell to face the Wolves in game four . Professional hockey etiquette of that period mandated a team to get their opponent ' s approval of borrowing a player from another team – especially from a team that was also in the playoffs . The Monarchs picked up Pickell without doing this . The goalie substitution incident was soon forgotten once the Monarchs eliminated the Wolves . They then went on to sweep the Portland Eagles , four games to none , in the PCHL final and won the President ' s Cup . After winning the PCHL championship they traveled east to face the minor league champion Boston Olympics for the U . S . Amateur Cup . The Monarchs lost that series but gained great respect among fans and peers in the hockey world . They almost won the President ' s Cup ( now called the Lester Patrick Cup and awarded to the Western Hockey League champion ) again in 1950 before losing in the final to the New Westminster Royals . Professional hockey leaves L . A . As ice hockey was in its infancy in California during the 1940s , most of the teams had trouble breaking even financially . Monarchs owner Charlie Cord , however did well financially . When facing local rivals like the Hollywood Wolves , Pasadena Panthers , and San Diego Skyhawks , the Monarchs often filled the 6200 seats in the Pan Pacific arena . Gate receipts were the mainstay of paying players and keeping the team financially afloat . However , when the U . S . economy took a down turn in 1949 , fewer fans had extra cash to go watch live hockey . As a result , every team in the league suffered during the 1949 – 50 season . Things started to unravel when the Fresno Falcons decided to fold after the 1950 season , and the San Diego Skyhawks were considering the same . The Monarchs had already lost their cross town rivals in Pasadena ( 1945 ) and in Hollywood ( 1947 ) . The Monarchs needed opponents based close to Los Angeles . The team was financially strong enough to continue in the league , in spite of the fact that they faced a more grueling road schedule playing teams in the Pacific Northwest . Jet travel was not yet common and the team mostly traveled by bus . Facing the prospect of having to travel by bus to the San Francisco Bay Area and the Northwest for all of their road games , Monarchs owners scrambled to find venture capital willing to land teams in San Bernardino and Bakersfield . However , those towns were too small and lacked the necessary capital to support new teams , especially during an economic down turn . Therefore , the northern division team owners did not want to commit to the expense and trouble of traveling to Southern California to face one team several times in a season . So , the fate of the Monarchs – and hockey in L . A . – relied upon the PCHL board of governors . After meeting on August 30 , 1950 , the PCHL board decided to disband the Southern Division , and not keep the Monarchs in the league . Hockey fans in Los Angeles had to wait until 1961 to get another hockey team . That was when the PCHL ’ s decedent , the Western Hockey League ( WHL ) expanded south and added the Los Angeles Blades . So notable is the Monarchs ' legacy that when the National Hockey League decided to expand to include a team in Los Angeles in 1967 , the Los Angeles franchise would become known as the Kings .