Danton Cole is serving as an assistant coach for the U.S. National Junior Team for the first time.

He is entering his sixth season as a head coach at USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program. Over the past five seasons, Cole has led the U.S. Men’s National Under-18 Team to a pair of gold medals at the International Ice Hockey Federation Men’s Under-18 World Championship (2012, 2014) in addition to leading the U.S. Men’s National Under-18 and Under-17 Teams to five other first place finishes in international competition.

An assistant coach with the bronze medal-winning U.S. Men’s National Team at the 2013 IIHF Men’s World Championship in Helsinki, Finland, and Stockholm, Sweden, Cole spent time as a head coach in both the college and professional ranks before joining USA Hockey’s NTDP.

From 2007-10, Cole served as head coach of the University of Alabama-Huntsville where he guided the Chargers to a College Hockey America championship in 2010 and a berth in the NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey tournament that same season. Prior to his time in Huntsville, he spent the 2006-07 season as an assistant coach with Bowling Green State University.

Additionally, Cole spent time in the American Hockey League, International Hockey League, and United Hockey League. His accomplishments include leading the Muskegon Fury of the United Hockey League to the Colonial Cup championship in 2002 and spending over two seasons (2002-05) with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, where his 116 wins currently rank third all-time in team history.

A sixth round selection (123rd overall) of the Winnipeg Jets in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, Cole earned a Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 1995. In addition to spending seven seasons in the NHL, Cole was a member of three U.S. Men’s National Teams (1990, 1991, 1994) and won an NCAA national title as a player at Michigan State University in 1986, where he was a three-time Central Collegiate Hockey Association All-Academic Team selection.