The Wembley Monarchs were an ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 team in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. They were founded in 1929 as the Grosvenor House Canadians, transferred to Wembley Canadians for the 1934-35 season and became the Monarchs in 1936. The team played in the English League

English League (ice hockey)

The English League was an early ice hockey league in England. It was founded in 1931 and operated until 1936 when it disbanded, being replaced by the English National League.A new league of the same name was founded during 1988 and continued on until 1997....

 1931-35, 1936–37 and in the English National League

English National League

For the current league see English National Ice Hockey LeagueThe English National League was an early ice hockey league in England. It was founded in 1935 by most of the teams who had previously competed in the English League. It was suspended during the Second World War, but returned in 1946...

 1935-36, 1937-50.

The Grosvenor House Canadians played their home matches at the Park Lane Rink but from 1934 the Empire Pool

Wembley Arena

Wembley Arena is an indoor arena, at Wembley, in the London Borough of Brent. The building is opposite Wembley Stadium.-History:...

 in London (now Wembley Arena) was the home ice for the Canadians/Monarchs (which they shared with the Wembley Lions

Wembley Lions

The Wembley Lions were an English ice hockey team.The team were founded in 1934 but showed a continuity with the London Lions team which had played at various venues since 1924. The Wembley team were based at the newly built Empire Pool which they shared with the Wembley Monarchs until 1950.The...

).

The Grosvenor House Canadians won the English League in 1933-34 but the only success as the Monarchs came in 1948 when they won the English Autumn Cup title. After World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 ice shows became frequent events over the Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 and New Year

New Year

The New Year is the day that marks the time of the beginning of a new calendar year, and is the day on which the year count of the specific calendar used is incremented. For many cultures, the event is celebrated in some manner....

 period and hosting two teams at Empire Pool became impractical. The Monarchs were closed down in 1950 as a result.

The heart of their strength was the famed "Kid Line",made up in 1948 of Mauno "Kid" Kauppi, Les Anning and Jean-Paul Lafortune. Left Wing Kauppi was voted MVP of the 1949 Autumn Cup game for scoring the winning goal in overtime.