Michigan State University Athletics
Ex-MSU Icer Cole Named Grand Rapids Head Coach
6/26/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
June 26, 2002
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Former Michigan State hockey player Danton Cole today was named head coach of the American Hockey League's Grand Rapids Griffins. Cole replaces Bruce Cassidy, who yesterday was tabbed as head coach of the Washington Capitals.
A four-year letterwinner with the Spartans from 1986-89, Cole was an assistant with the Griffins from 1999-2001 and helped the team to the International Hockey League Eastern Conference championship and a berth in the 2000 Turner Cup finals. As the head coach of the United Hockey League's Muskegon Fury in 2001-02, he guided the team to a 48-22-4 regular-season record and the Colonial Cup as the league's playoff champion.
Cole ranks tied for 27th on MSU's career scoring list with 69 goals and 94 assists for 163 points. He shares the school record for most career games played with 180. He served as an assistant captain during the 1987-88 season and was the team's captain for the 1988-89 campaign.
A freshman on Michigan State's last national championship team in 1986, Cole was a three-time member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association all-academic team. He was the MSU hockey MVP in 1989 and earned the Blue Line President's Award as the top scholar-athlete in the Spartan hockey senior class that same season. He also captured the team's Amo Bessone Award for athletic, scholastic and community participation in 1988 and received the team's Most Improved Player award in 1987.
Cole was chosen in the sixth round of the 1985 National Hockey League Entry Draft by the Winnipeg Jets and played in 318 games during his six-year career. He scored 58 goals and added 60 assists during stints with Winnipeg, Tampa Bay, New Jersey, the New York Islanders and Chicago and was a member of the New Jersey team that won the Stanley Cup in 1995.
Grand Rapids played its first season in the AHL in 2001-02 after the IHL folded following the 2000-01 campaign. The Griffins had been the top minor league club of the Ottawa Senators, but will serve as the Detroit Red Wings' primary affiliate starting next season.
