Komets captain Colin Chaulk loves a good challenge.

A new era of Komets hockey began Thursday, with their long-anticipated entrance into the ECHL.And with it supposedly ends the era of the Komets changing leagues more than they change goaltenders.

The Komets are bound for the ECHL, less than two weeks after winning the CHL’s Presidents’ Cup.

The Komets will announce today that they are joining the ECHL, less than two weeks after they won the CHL championship.

Forward Mike Vaskivuo signed to play next season with Grenoble in France less than a week after he helped the Komets win the Presidents’ Cup and was named playoff MVP.The announcement was made on Grenoble’s website.

For some of the players, it was a familiar feeling to take a lap around the Coliseum ice with a championship trophy hoisted above their head.

Forward Mike Vaskivuo got the playoff MVP trophy and a great last laugh.Released by Rapid City on March 15, he helped the Komets defeat the Rush, Missouri and Wichita en route to the Ray Miron Presidents’ Cup.

The Komets have won nine playoff championships in their 60-year history, including this year’s the CHL’s Ray Miron Presidents’ Cup.

It’s hard to fathom Al Sims not coming back to coach the Komets next season. He’s won four championships in the last five years, including capturing the Ray Miron Presidents’ Cup on Monday.

Years from now, people may remember the Komets’ Turner Conference semifinals series against Rapid City more than they remember the Presidents’ Cup finals against Wichita.The teams hated each other that much.

It may have seemed crazy when he said it, but it proved to be the ultimate motivation.

Perhaps the most amazing facet of the Komets’ run to the Ray Miron Presidents’ Cup was that everyone played a big part in it.

As thousands of Komets fans gathered at the Memorial Coliseum Expo Center for the annual end-of-season party Thursday night, the team’s rookies looked green again for the first time in months.

The Komets will gather tonight at the Memorial Coliseum Expo Center for the annual end-of-season party and jersey auction (Doors open at 6:30, auction begins at 7).

"Tired is for losers." "We've got them right where we want them.

The Komets’ ability to overcome adversity made the team unique this season. It also helped them net the CHL’s Ray Miron Presidents’ Cup, the ninth championship in Fort Wayne’s 60 years of play.

The Komets were tired of hearing that their championships in the IHL were inconsequential because the league had only six or seven teams when they won three straight from 2008 to 2010.

"We battled all year long, through highs and lows. We had dry spells. We lost guys to injuries. We recruited new guys. There was a lot of heart in our locker room.”

Many of the Komets had hoisted the IHL’s Turner Cup, which was much bigger than the Ray Miron Presidents’ Cup.So they were surprised at the light weight of the CHL’s championship trophy.

The Komets know this much: They don’t want to get back on the bus.They’ve spent about 128 hours on buses during the playoffs. That’s more than five full days in cramped quarters.

The Komets know where they don’t want to be tonight – in the penalty box.

It was all premature.The sale of brooms, the selling out of tickets, the celebratory tailgating three hours before the puck dropped – all for naught, as the Komets lost 4-3 to the Wichita Thunder in Game 4 of the Presidents’ Cup finals

Forty-five minutes before the drop of the puck, and here the faithful come, dressed like either an Arizona sunset or a living tribute to the Creamsicle.

The Komets’ Lincoln Kaleigh Schrock was in the middle of a scrum near the blue line as the final horned blared at the end of Game 3 of the Presidents’ Cup finals Thursday at Memorial Coliseum.

Do the Komets want to sweep their way to the Presidents’ Cup? Oh, yes, absolutely.“We’ve got to leave it all out there,” forward Lincoln Kaleigh Schrock said.

The dry-erase board in the Komets’ locker room read, “ALL BUSINESS.

"We want to step on them. We want to take control real early."

The Komets have a knack for finding young players from the junior or college ranks, bringing them in just before the playoffs and getting major contributions from them.

Not often in the Komets’ 60-year-history – if ever – has a line spent as much time behind the opposing team’s goal as Colin Chaulk, Mike Vaskivuo and Chris Auger.

Remember those worries about the Komets fighting fatigue, travel and having only one day off after a grueling Game 7 in the Turner Conference finals? They were all for naught.

Goaltender Nick Boucher knew there would be times fatigue would hit his teammates and he’d have to save them during the President’s Cup finals against Wichita.

WICHITA, Kan. – It wasn’t in the fashion they would have liked.

It’s easy to tell that Komets coach Al Sims has an affection for rookie blue-liner Bryant Molle.“Molle is just a special defenseman,” Sims said.

ADVANTAGES

None of the Komets who played in the seven-game Turner Conference finals victory over the Missouri Mavericks saw less playing time than Tom Mele.But not everyone had as big an impact.

Goaltender Nick Boucher expects the best-of-seven President’s Cup finals between his Komets and the Wichita Thunder to be physical.“Obviously, you’re looking at a big, strong skilled team,” Boucher said.