After only four days, the bruises have just started to change color, and a few players are already recovering or planning to undergo surgery. After all the celebrations, the need for anesthesia may be minimal. It will be about a month before the Fort Wayne Komets' bodies all start to feel “normal” again. Then the players will start preparing for next season.

They better spend a lot of time at it because as good and as tough as this season was for the Komets, next year will be even tougher. This team accomplished some amazing things by winning 25 consecutive home games, setting franchise records for most wins and points in a season, and then becoming the first International Hockey League team ever to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win the Turner Cup finals.

It was an amazing season, one of the best of Fort Wayne's 56 seasons in professional hockey. It will be remembered forever, and part of that is because the Port Huron Icehawks pushed the Komets to their absolute best in the finals. The Icehawks forced the Komets to play with even more passion, emotion and resiliency than they knew they had.

“When we won it in '03, it wasn't a breeze, but we dominated and we were very lucky,” Komets center Colin Chaulk said. “I learned a lot when we lost to Muskegon in four straight the next year and when we came back (from 3-1 down) against Rockford in '05. I learned a lot of lessons there that these young guys, I don't know if they've learned them. They probably don't understand what they are going through. Next year when they play in the playoffs, if they are out quick, they at least will understand what it takes to win. What it takes are ice bags, bruises, cuts - you're beat up, you're dehydrated, you're hunched over. You're done and you're spent because you gave it everything you had. That's what it takes.”

The Komets gave it all this playoff season, and it was exhilarating to watch. There was nothing this team couldn't and didn't accomplish, no challenge they couldn't overcome.

Well, here's an even bigger one for next year, something no Komets team has ever done.

Do it again.

There has never been a Komets team that won back-to-back playoff championships. The 2004 Komets came close but were swept by Muskegon in the Colonial Cup finals. The 1964 Komets came the closest, losing to Toledo in six games, but that included a disallowed game-winning goal on a blown offsides call in Toledo. The 1994 Komets surprised everyone by making it back to the Turner Cup finals before losing in six games to Atlanta. That team probably should have won, blowing a 5-0 lead in Game 4 before losing 7-6 in three overtimes.

The 2008-09 Komets will likely face the toughest obstacles to winning back-to-back crowns because the competition will be incredibly difficult.

First, not every player will return from this team. Justin Hodgman, Matheiu Curadeau and Luciano Acquino may play in the American Hockey League. A few players may retire, and a couple of others may receive too-good-to-be-true offers in other leagues.

The core of this team will return and might include Olivier Legault, Evgeny Saidachev and Brandon Warner, three players the Komets made sure to keep under 60 games this season so they could maintain their rookie status.

The main thing is that the roster next year needs to get even stronger if the Komets are to have a shot at repeating because everyone else in the IHL should be significantly better, especially Port Huron. Last year Stan Drulia didn't get to start recruiting until July, but he'll have a deeper, more offensive squad next year now that the ownership situation in Port Huron has stabilized.

Ownership questions in Flint, Bloomington and Muskegon are also much more stable heading into this summer than they were last year, and those teams are very hungry to improve and challenge the Komets. Kalamazoo just needs a better coach, and general manager Wade Welsh is sure to find one.

Remember in the first half of this season when all six teams were within 10 points of first place for weeks at a time?

That may be the case for the entire season next year. There's almost no way the Komets will be able to challenge the records they set this season, not because they'll be weaker, but because everyone else will be significantly better.

The Komets set the bar this season for the rest of the IHL. They also set it for themselves, not that the ownership group ever settles for anything. They consistently want to finish in first place, but it may be a little harder to do next season.

That's OK, since this group obviously loves a challenge.