Early start

The Komets are now 1-5-2 on Sundays after a 3-1 loss to Rockford. They had chances to score at the one end but Rockford goaltender Ronnie Vogel was too touch. At the other end, Kevin Kurk played OK, but he's got to control his rebounds better especially against a team like Rockford that crashes the net.

So I got to the Coliseum about 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, and as I walked into the press box I noticed what at a glance I thought was a senior hockey team warming up. Once I sat down I realized it was the Komets. They skated from about 3:30 to 4 p.m. and left before the crowd entered. They went through some drills and basically just got their legs loose.

``I've done that a couple of times over the years in my career,'' Komets coach Greg Puhalski said.

The guys seemed to be having fun, and they'd usually be at the rink by that time anyway. They also seemed to get off to a better start energy-wise and tempo-wise than normal, even though they trailed 1-0 after the first period.

Puhalski said the early practices may continue, though a lot will depend on the team's schedule.

So what did you think of the game? I'm starting to come to the mindset that the Komets just have to play smarter. How many stupid penalties are they going to take, even if the referee is looking to call stuff. Why are the players out of position to start with?

Boy, did they miss Chaulker on the power play to set things up and settle down. I wrote a column for tomorrow saying that basically they have to quit trying to be a team that can score five goals per night because they absolutely can't. That doesn't mean they can't still be a very good team and maybe even challenge for a title. They have to start trying to win games 3-2 instead of 6-5 because that's never going to happen against Rockford, Kalamazoo, Danbury or Muskegon. The sooner they accept that, the better club they will be.