Michigan State Hockey: Cole and Christian Krygier withdraw from transfer portal

Michigan State men’s ice hockey has had a very active offseason.

After winning an overtime thriller against Michigan Tech to close the 2021 calendar year, Michigan State would not win a single game until facing Penn State in one of MSU’s final home games.

The program lost 15 of its last 16 contests, including an embarrassing Big Ten Tournament series to Michigan, in which the Spartans were outscored 12-1.

It was time for a change.

Following the season’s final game, Michigan State athletic director Allan Haller did not indicate that head coach Danton Cole would be fired. Nearly one month later, Cole was dismissed.

That still left many questions unresolved, one of which was who would lead this team and who he would hire as staff. Since then, the program announced Michigan State alum Adam Nightingale would take over as head coach.

Nate McDonald, who was expected to be an incoming goaltender, retreated to the portal after Nightingale was hired, but defenseman Michael Underwood and goaltender Dylan St. Cyr both announced their intentions to transfer to East Lansing this fall.

Now, it has been announced that seniors Cole and Christian Krygier will be staying at Michigan State for their fifth and final years of eligibility. Despite the penalties, the Krygier brothers make MSU a very fast and physical team. It would be a significant loss to see them leave. They both initially entered the transfer portal after the season ended.

Returning Michigan State defenseman include freshman David Gucciardi, sophomore Nash Nienhuis, sophomore Powell Connor, sophomore Cal Dybicz and incoming freshman Matt Basgall from Lake Forest, Illinois.

Other incoming transfers outside of St. Cyr and Underwood for Michigan State include junior forward Zach Dubinsky (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), senior forward Justin Jallen (Brown University) and freshman forward Gavin Best (Minnesota Magicians).