MANCHESTER -- The Manchester Monarchs gave a new meaning to the phrase “traffic in front of the net” on Saturday.

They Monarchs put their nets in front of traffic for the street hockey portion of the second Manchester Monarchs Summer Fan Fest.

Actually, the street hockey players managed to avoid traffic altogether with Elm Street blocked off for a short stretch in front of the Verizon Wireless Arena.

“We've got all kinds of teams playing, the weather cooperated and it's not too hot,” said Hubie McDonough Jr., the director of hockey operations for the Monarchs who was overseeing the tournament. “You think about playing hockey in front of the Verizon and on Elm Street. It's fun.”

That was the theme of the day in the four rinks on the street — each measured 30 feet by 50 feet — on the grassy banks overlooking the rinks covered with blankets and lawn chairs and up on the plaza featuring a climbing wall, musical performances and other activities.

Fun and a chance to think hockey in temperatures of 80 degrees or so.

The street hockey tournament drew 17 teams, more than double the number that competed last year, competing in three age groups, starting from ages 7 to 10 and up to a 16 and group that included young adults.

An estimated 1,200 fans turned out for the event.

“It's the middle of the summer and it's a chance to let fans know we're still around, and it's a chance to give back,” said Kim Mueller, the team's vice president of public affairs. “Luckily, the Kings won the Stanley Cup and there's been a lot of buzz around that.”

The Los Angeles Kings, the parent club of the Monarchs, buzzed through the Stanley Cup playoffs with a big assist from former Monarchs.

“That we had 14 players on the Kings roster from our team was a huge number for us,” Mueller said.

Jordan Nolan, Dwight King and Slava Voynov all spent a large part of the 2011-12 season with the Monarchs, in fact, before joining the Kings in February and going on to play key roles in the run to the Cup.

“It's got to be pretty rewarding for fans when they see a guy like Jordan Nolan raising the Cup over his head when two and half months before that he was playing in Manchester,” said Richard Seely, a former Monarchs who was greeting fans on Saturday.

“That's our job, to get guys ready to go up,” McDonough said. “It'd be great to win the Calder Cup (for winning the American Hockey League), but it's more important to win the Stanley Cup. It really gives legitimacy to what we're doing here.”

Seely, who did a couple of stints with the Monarchs and has settled in the Lakes Region, got a kick out of the Kings' run.

“They got hot at the right time,” he said.

Given the Stanley Cup championship, Susan Leaver of Manchester, who's been hooked on the Monarchs from day one, was hoping she might run into a special guest at Fan Fest.

“I had a feeling the Stanley Cup might show up today,” Leaver said. “I just had a gut feeling.''

Goaltender Jonathan Quick, the outstanding Kings goalie who also starred with the Monarchs, had his day with the Cup on Friday in Connecticut, after all.

The Cup was a no-show at the Verizon, though.

“It's definitely coming (at some point),” Mueller said. “We don't have a date for it yet, but it is coming. We want to share it with our fans.”

On Saturday, Mueller said, the Cup was in Ithaca, N.Y. with Dustin Brown.

Leaver and the other Monarchs settled for the music and raffles and street hockey, including a few of the sounds of winter in the summer.

There was no smack of pucks hitting the boards, but there was a smack of street hockey sticks bouncing off the pavement.

A “Whoa” went up from the crowd after one particularly nice save and a collective sigh followed shortly after when the rebound was knocked into the net.

There was plenty of encouragement from the sidelines, too.

“Be aggressive, be aggressive,” yelled one fan as things got a little rough.

“All the way down, all the way down,” said another, encouraging a young player to clear the ball down the ice, er, pavement.

Yes, the sounds of winter.