August 1, 2018 at 6:37 p.m.
Finding bliss
Former NHL All-Star Suter now enjoys the quiet life in the Northwoods
Finding bliss
There are also some who struggle with retiring at an early age, particularly if it wasn't on their terms.
When his 17-year career in the National Hockey League came to a close at age 39, Gary Suter knew exactly what he wanted to do and where he wanted to go.
After the hustle and bustle of playing 1,145 NHL regular season games, 108 NHL playoff games and 45 international games, playing for the Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks, Suter was ready for the quiet life. So he moved, with his family, to Lac du Flambeau and never looked back.
"We started vacationing here in 1994 and I was playing with the Blackhawks at the time," Suter said. "I'm orignally from Madison and we wanted to get a place up in northern Wisconsin to enjoy the beautiful waters and the scenery. So we found a summer place up here and we were up here just on weekends those first couple years, then pretty soon we were up here all offseason during the summers and then when I retired in 2002, we liked it so much we wanted to try it full-time and we've been up here ever since."
Hockey had been a major factor in Suter's life from an early age, coming from perhaps the First Family of Wisconsin hockey, as his father Marlow helped found the Madison Capitols, while his older brother Bob played for the United States "Miracle on Ice" team in the 1980 Olympics, while also playing with another brother, John, at the University of Wisconsin.
A late bloomer, Gary played for Culver Military Academy in Indiana for his final two years of high school before playing a year in the USHL with the Dubuque Fighting Saints and then becoming the third Suter to play for the Badgers.
After two years in Madison, Suter signed with the Flames, and it didn't take long for him to make an impact.
He scored 18 goals and had 50 assists, earning him the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's Rookie of the Year, during the 1985-86 season, although it was cut short due to a knee injury that forced him to miss part of the playoffs as Calgary eventually lost in the Stanley Cup Finals.
During his 17 years in the NHL, Suter was a four-time all-star and one of the top offensive defensemen in the league, particularly during the high-scoring era of the 1980s.
As his career began to wind down, though, Suter never wanted to hang on to collect more money or to chase a Stanley Cup, though he does have his name etched on hockey's Holy Grail as a member of the 1989 Flames, but suffered a broken jaw five games into the playoffs and missed the title run and he won a silver medal with U.S. Olympic team in 2002.
"During my career, I saw guys sitting on the end of the bench that weren't playing a lot and other guys, at the end of their careers, were sitting out games," Suter said. "I never wanted to go through that. I wanted to go out while I could still play. I decided to retire in 2002. I'm sure I could have played a few more years and hung on and collected the salary, but I still wanted to be a big part of the team while I was still part of the team, instead of being an extra."
One of the reasons Suter wanted to retire was to spend more time with his family, including his sons Jake and Jared.
So Suter went from being around some of the time from September until June, to being around all the time.
During the first two years of his retirement, teams still called to inquire about his services and there were even rumors he would come back to play with his nephew, Ryan, when he broke into the league with Nashville in 2003.
By that time, however, Suter was already involved in coaching youth hockey in the Lakeland area.
Jake went on to play for the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. He also played professionally for a year in France and recently became the boys' hockey coach at Lakeland Union High School, while Gary was an assistant for the Thunderbirds while Jared was in school.
"For us, it was awesome," Jake said. "I'm sure it was a bit of an adjustment for him going from all these big cities, flying on private planes and living the big-timer life, but it was cool for us. Not having your dad around for 42 road games during the season and getting to hang out with him - me and my brother enjoyed it a lot. Being together all the time was cool."
There was another reason Suter wanted to live in the Northwoods, similar to many people who move to the area - the great outdoors.
Suter loved hunting, fishing and attending Green Bay Packers games with his older brothers as a child, but from the age of 12 until his retirement, many of the things he enjoyed doing came during the hockey season.
Despite not hunting for nearly 30 years, Suter maintained his love for heading into the woods with a rifle on his shoulder and was itching to get back into it during his retirement.
"There's something magical about sitting out in the woods deer hunting and I've got the fever on that," Suter said. "It was something, totally, that I was looking forward to doing when I was retired."
Suter's time away from playing hockey is rapidly approaching the time he spent in the NHL and he's spent that time doing everything he wants to do.
There is no desire to get into coaching or spend his days in an office. His office is a tree stand, a boat on a lake with a fishing pole in his hands or the golf course. Most days there is no schedule and that's what he prefers.
"I don't have any set things on my bucket list that I need to do," Suter said. "I just want to be healthy and see my kids continue to grow and develop their own families and be successful and just enjoy life."
Perhaps one last hockey achievement is still on the table for Suter, although he does nothing to actively pursue it or promote himself.
Suter's name has annually been thrown around as a candidate for induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was elected to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011, but hasn't received the call from Toronto.
Suter's 844 career points rank 14th all-time amongst NHL defensemen and all 13 players ahead of him have already entered the Hall of Fame, with 11 of them being named to the NHL's list of Top 100 Players, which came out in 2017 for the league's 100th anniversary.
"I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it," Suter said. "I was honored to be put in the U.S. Hall of Fame. The NHL - there's a lot of really good players that aren't in the Hall of Fame. I think if you go by numbers, I'm borderline, but that's out of my control. I don't lose any sleep over it and my life's going to be fulfilled whether I make it or not."
Suter has agreed to return to coach Lakeland on a volunteer basis now that Jake has taken over the program, but he's still going to spend the majority of his time outdoors.
The Northwoods is the place he envisions being for the remainder of his life.
"We go back and forth to Madison a little bit, but right now this is where we want to be and we have since the early 1990s," Suter said. "I don't see that changing, unless my wife says, 'We're outta here.' Then it'll be her choice, but we love it up here."
Nick Sabato may be reached at [email protected] or via Twitter@NickSabatoLT.
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