The Manchester Monarchs, who have been among the most competitive regular season teams in the American Hockey League over that span, are, for the first time since the league expanded into Southern New Hampshire, playing for the Calder Cup.
There have been close calls: in 2007 and 2010 the team dropped Conference Final games to league pillar Hershey. In the other 11 seasons, there were 10 first round exits and the 2008-09 season, when the club missed the playoffs entirely.
And now, with the club two wins away from its first championship – the Monarchs currently hold a two-games-to-none lead over the Utica Comets – comes the reality that once the season ends, and perhaps, as many of the players, staff and fans hope, the confetti is cleaned up from a potential parade down Elm Street, that many of those who engineered the longest run playoff run in club history will depart for the Inland Empire, where next year they will be wearing the chevron of the Ontario Reign.