This is Year 4 of Danton Cole's tenure as head hockey coach at Michigan State, and he's not ducking the narrative.
It's getting time to take that next step — yes, even in skates.
"That's fair," Cole said Friday in a Zoom call with reporters, ahead of the season-opening series, Nov. 19-20, at home against Arizona State. "We've been able to get a little better each year. Our depth has slowly improved.
"We like that we're getting pushed by our young guys now. We're not scrambling."
Michigan State lost its top two goal-scorers from last year, but returns three of the next four, including senior forward Mitch Lewandowski (eight goals, 12 assists), junior defenseman Dennis Cesana (seven, 15) and senior forward Tommy Apap (seven, five), the latter who was elected one of two captains, along with West Bloomfield senior defenseman Tommy Miller.