Tomorrow’s column

As for how physical the game was, let’s ask the folks who were there when they get back. All I know is there were plenty of ice bags in the dressing room.

KALAMAZOO – Here’s two opposing perspectives on a United Hockey League game Friday night – and maybe they are both right.

With some fans and newspaper writers complaining about how close UHL referees were calling the games, often killing the excitement, the league’s board of governors met Thursday in Kalamazoo to discuss the matter. No one involved is talking about how the discussion went, but there was a marked difference in the style of Friday’s game.

The Wings won 3-2, scoring with 2:40 left, but both teams flew right at each other with center-ice hits and plenty of banging boards. On the very first shift, Komets’ center and agitator Bruce Richardson and Wings center and super-pest Tyler Willis crashed into each other at center ice. Expecting a call that would have come last week, every player on the ice looked up at referee Jim Hawthorne, but he just shook his head and the players took off from there.

From the perspective of a hockey fan, it was a fun game to watch with a playoff-like pace and intensity. It was easily most entertaining Komets’ game of the young season, and there should be plenty of excitement for future Komets-Wings games. Richardson and Willis will run into each other so much by the end of the season they might as well be related.

There was one icing call in the first period, one in the second and none in the third. The Komets had chances to win, hitting the post twice, Kalamazoo goaltender Tom Askey in the mask once and Wings defenseman Adam Elzinga in the helmet with a slap shot in the closing seconds.

The difference in the game was the Komets got caught out on a long shift, goaltender Kevin St. Pierre gave up a few rebounds late and his teammates couldn’t clear the zone before the Wings capitalized when Nick Bootland popped open in front for a backhand.

Hawthorne, who called 29 penalties during the Komets’ home-opener against Quad City, let the teams go at it, and they seemed ready and willing. He called 22 penalties Friday night, but five times sending a player from both teams to the ice at the same time.

As a fan, it was a fun game to watch.

Then there’s the problem from the teams’ perspectives, and it’s a major one. Either there was a change or Hawthorne had the worst night of his career. There’s no other explanation for the inconsistency of the way he called the two games a month apart. The games weren’t that different.

But no one communicated to the coaches and players if there would be a change in officiating philosophy. Oops.

“You had no idea what was going to be called and what wasn’t,’’ Komets coach Pat Bingham said. “I know what the rules are, and what we’ve talked about as a league that is supposed to be called, but I didn’t see a whole lot of that tonight. It’s very difficult for me to coach them and tell the players what to expect when that’s definitely not the same game that was being called last week.

“You had no idea what was going to be called and what was allowed. Maybe everybody that is a fan and is involved in the game is happy. To me that is not the agenda. The agenda is to clean up the game, to take out the obstruction and tackling and football blocks. We lose the face-off and we want to go pursue and they ran a block and we couldn’t go get it. You shouldn’t be able to do that. You can’t draw up a play like that because it ought to be a penalty every single time. I don’t get it. It’s stupidity.’’

Even more embarrassing, one of the major complainers about the old style is Komets President Michael Franke. If the UHL decided to make a fundamental change in the way the games are being officiated, then somebody needed to inform the coaches and the players before the game. No one did so they expected the old style.

In other words, Bingham and the players are now more confused than ever. Which rules are they supposed to operate under, the stricter enforcement or the looser style?

If the UHL has decided to change the emphasis, thank you – but somebody might give its most important employees an idea of what is going on.