Hello to all my fellow Monarchs Country men and women!  There was a lot of exciting news last week so let’s get right to it!

Kicking off an exciting week was the Monarchs announcement of six guaranteed home dates for next season.  Those dates included the Home Opening Weekend, the return of the popular Mullets In Movember Night, every student’s favorite Education Day game, a Black Friday game for the day after Thanksgiving and one of my favorites, the annual indoor fireworks show after the Monarchs game on New Year’s Eve.

One night that caught my eye is the Kings Night planned for January 19, 2013.  The Jungle will be morphed into an “LA East” as everything on that night will feel like a 2012 Stanley Cup Champions Los Angeles Kings game!  Even though it is in the middle of the Kings season, I am hoping Bailey can attend the game too!!

If I had to pick a favorite night of the above announced games, I am not sure which one I would pick.  On one hand, Mullets In Movember is the greatest and I am clearly not the only one that thinks highly of it as the event made Sportscenter’s Top 10 plays of the week on ESPN last November.  On the other hand, you could say I am most excited for the Home Opening Weekend as it will mark the return of hockey in the Jungle, finally!  You can make a case for any of them but in the end, the only way to truly enjoy yourself is to go to them all!  I hope you will be joining me in the Jungle!

The Monarchs also announced that the second annual Summer Fan Fest will be on Saturday, July 28!  Registration is now open for teams to enter the Street Hockey Tournament.  Visit www.monarchsjungle.com/Street-Hockey-Tournament to learn more. 

The Monarchs plan to close a portion of Elm Street again for Manchester’s largest Street Hockey Tournament.  Even if you are not playing in the Street Hockey Tournament, you should still come down to the Jungle and enjoy former Monarchs, inflatable bounce houses and a dunk tank among other great activities.  It is going to be a giant Monarchs carnival and I will certainly be there with all my friends! 

Last year’s Summer Fan Fest was a blast and I got to hang out with a few of my buddies.  In particular, I hung around Finz, who is a Worcester Sharks fan but is actually a pretty cool dude, and Pucky who loves the Connecticut Whale.  Hopefully, all my friends can make this summer’s fun, hockey event!

How excited were you when you heard center Marc-Andre Cliche and left wing Richard Clune signed two year deals with the Kings organization!  I am so glad to have them back in the world’s best organization!  For selfish reasons, I hope they play here in Manchester next season because they are good players but I also hope they get a chance to play with the Kings in the near future!

Who knew June would bring so much good news!?  As if it were possible, the announcements only made me more excited for the season to start!  I hope you are as excited as I am! It is going to be a season for the ages! 

Thank you to everyone for your continued support of my blogging!  Talk to you all in next week’s blog if I do not see you around town first!