Welcome to our series on who wore each number best for the Penguins.
The idea is being openly borrowed from our new hockey writer, Cody Tucker, and his project at the Lansing State Journal covering all the uniform numbers worn through Michigan State football history, one that’s been well received by their readers and prompted heavy discussion and debate.
Under the organization of Taylor Haase, and following the voting of a big chunk of our staff, we’ll publish one new one each day until completion, which should be right around the start of training camp.
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Name: Ian Cole
Number: 28
Position: Defenseman
Born: February 21, 1989, in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Seasons with Penguins: 2014-18
Statistics with Penguins: 218 regular-season games, 9 goals, 50 assists, 443 even-strength blocks, 386 even-strength hits; 54 games, 1 goal, 13 assists, 127 even-strength blocks, 98 even-strength hits in playoffs
Ian Cole, warrior, back at work not long after blocking a shot with his face. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPSWHY COLE?
Not to discount Cole's skating and puck moving abilities, but he made his mark as a back-to-back Stanley Cup champion by doing the work not everyone is willing to do.
Think about Cam Newton (the quarterback, not the goalie) watching a ball as it bounces around in the Super Bowl, unwilling to fight for its recovery. Yeah, Ian Cole is the exact opposite of that. Cole's 127 blocks at even strength in 54 career playoff games helped him, and ultimately the Penguins, to each of those Stanley Cup rings during his tenure.
"The media" gets a bad rap for its meme-like love for Cole. We clamored for his return to the lineup when he was absent from it before he was traded. We were mocked at times for believing he could help push the Blue Jackets past their first-round hurdle.
The truth is that he's loved in the media because of his sense of humor and willingness to talk after a win or loss, and there is no denying the Penguins don't win either Stanley Cup without their most recent No. 28.
WHAT'S HE DOING NOW?
After finishing out the 2017-18 season with the Blue Jackets and losing in the first round of the playoffs to the eventual Cup champions, Cole signed a three-year deal with the Avalanche with an annual average salary of $4.25 million.
The Avalanche made the playoffs in 2017-18 for the first time since the 2013-14 season, and they'll look to Cole to be a solidifying factor and contributor in their quest to return to the playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time since the 2003-04 and 2005-06 seasons (the league canceled the 2004-05 season).
The Avalanche last won the Cup in 2000-01, so Cole will look to bring another one to Colorado, but it's unknown if he'll appear on Morning Java if and when he does.
Ian Cole in his natural, shot-blocking habitat. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPSIT WAS SPOKEN
Being at ice level and taking pictures, I don't have the same experience of talking to the guys in the room like Dejan Kovacevic or Chris Bradford have, and I'm not the historian, collector of hockey knowledge that Taylor Haase is, so my experience "talking" to the players is a bit different.
For Cole, my memorable moments are him joking with us after Game 6 in Nashville, and also carrying that same playfulness and "fun" onto twitter to respond to a makeshift promotion tweet of mine from the arena.
I caught Cole talking to Scott Wilson before a faceoff, and I turned it into him chatting about a 99-cent DKPittsburghSports.com promotion:
“Hey, Scott. Did you know you can try a subscription to @DKPghSports for 99 cents!?!?” - Ian Cole, probably https://t.co/rjsXUllrzv pic.twitter.com/zy75K7WrsF
— Matty Sunday (@mattsunday) September 29, 2017
His response was memorable to me because it highlighted the reason Cole is so loved amongst the media and his former teammates, and also because of the wave of ... advice ... from internet lawyers suggesting not to endorse anything without a paycheck. But, hey ... if you love a product, you love a product:
Pretty much spot on actually
— Ian Cole (@ICole28) September 29, 2017
Aside from what Cole said himself, DK used this gem from his mom, Connie Cole, in a piece about her son giving it all to help the team: "On special occasions, he proudly shows me his more distinguished welts, scars or stitches and tells me their stories. They all have one, you know.”
Hockey moms are the best moms.
HONORABLE MENTIONS AT NO. 28:
Dan Frawley
Gordie Roberts
Michal Rozsival
Eric Godard
ANY DEBATE?
Not from me. By all accounts, Godard was a favorite of his teammates and of the community, and he wore 28 in a great but very different way, but on paper Cole was the most important 28 of them all. His bruises led directly to an unprecedented back-to-back run (post-salary cap).
Tomorrow: I'm back with No. 29. Which Two-Niner will it be?
Yesterday: Alexei Kovalev
