“It became obvious by Christmas that nothing was going to happen,” Comley said. “We just didn’t have enough bodies left. There were too many people gone and too many injuries. We were just trying to be respectable. You don’t call kids up from intramural hockey to play Division I hockey and have a chance to win hockey games.”

Red flags flew in Comley’s mind at the beginning of last season when Justin Abdelkader, Tim Kennedy and Michael Ratchuk signed professional contracts early, leaving gaping holes in the Spartans’ lineup. Comley compared their loss to the Detroit Red Wings losing Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk.

Comley said he’s still not ready to forget last season — during which the Spartans went 10-23-5 overall to finish second-to-last in the CCHA — and spent a lot of time in the offseason trying to figure out how last year’s “perfect storm” took shape.

And his soul-searching started the day the Spartans were swept from the CCHA Tournament in the first round by Northern Michigan, ending the team’s miserable season.

“As tough as last year was, mentally, it was almost tougher when the year was over because then you had to live with it,” Comley said. “Until you play your last game, you always think and hope you might turn it around or find some magic solution that helps you win some hockey games.”

Although the Spartans were picked to finish ninth in the CCHA preseason coaches’ poll and eighth in the media poll, Comley insisted this year’s team will be better than last year’s.

“I don’t think anything happened to the program or anything is wrong with the program,” Comley said. “But this is not a program, like any high-profile ones are, where losing is part of it for very often or for very long.”

Comley is reinventing his coaching style to try to find more wins. In the offseason, the Spartans’ coaching staff spent hours looking at film of the Detroit Red Wings in an effort to stimulate the Spartans’ offense, which averaged 1.61 goals per game, the lowest average in Division I hockey and the lowest in MSU hockey program history.

“Everybody copies what works, and obviously the Red Wings work right now,” Comley said. “We are adding some attack situations, forechecking situations and some neutral zone situations that (Red Wings head coach) Mike Babcock has really sold and done a tremendous job with.”

Comley isn’t naive and realizes fans were extremely frustrated with last season, and he said he’s feeling the pressure to put a better product on the ice.

“When you are at my age now, with my number of years, something goes bad and people right away start to say, ‘Well maybe you should start to do something else,’” Comley said. “If it means reproving ourselves again, then that’s OK. That’s what we will do.”

Comley didn’t put a timeline on how much longer he plans on coaching, but said it likely will be somewhere between five to 10 years from now, that is, if he’s asked to continue at the reins of the MSU hockey program by MSU Athletics Director Mark Hollis.

“I get plenty of time to do everything I like to do, but this is what I like to do the most,” Comley said. “I can’t imagine doing anything else.”