Robert Allen Suter (May 16, 1957 – September 9, 2014) was an American ice hockey defenseman and member of the U.S. national team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics.

He was the brother of former National Hockey League (NHL) player Gary Suter and father of current NHL unrestricted free agent Ryan Suter who last played for the St. Louis Blues. Another son, Garrett, played for the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association. His nephew Jeremy Dehner is a defenseman with most of his career spent in European professional leagues.

Career

Born in Madison, Wisconsin, Suter attended Madison East High School. He played college hockey at University of Wisconsin–Madison and was a member of the 1977 NCAA hockey champion Wisconsin Badgers. He was mostly noted for his rough play, setting several Badger records for penalty minutes before leaving in 1979. He initially joined the Tulsa Oilers under a tryout contract for a few games in late 1979, but soon joined the 1980 US Olympic hockey team on a full-time basis, winning the gold medal.

Death

Suter died on September 9, 2014, of a heart attack suffered at Capitol Ice Arena. In July 2015, Capitol Ice Arena was renamed as Bob Suter's Capitol Ice Arena in his memory.

Suter was not featured in a 1981 TV movie about the 1980 U.S. hockey team called Miracle on Ice, except in archival footage of the gold medal ceremony.

In the 2004 Disney film Miracle, he is portrayed by Pete Duffy.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

{| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:60em"

|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff"|

! rowspan="100" bgcolor="#ffffff"|

! colspan="5"|Regular season

! rowspan="100" bgcolor="#ffffff"|

! colspan="5"|Playoffs

|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! Season

! Team

! League

! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM

! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM

|-

| 1972–73

| Madison East High School

| HS-WI

| — || — || — || — || —

| — || — || — || — || —

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1973–74

| Madison East High School

| HS-WI

| — || — || — || — || —

| — || — || — || — || —

|-

| 1974–75

| Madison East High School

| HS-WI

| — || — || — || — || —

| — || — || — || — || —

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1975–76

| University of Wisconsin

| WCHA

| 37 || 3 || 13 || 16 || 60

| — || — || — || — || —

|-

| 1976–77

| University of Wisconsin

| WCHA

| 38 || 3 || 15 || 18 || 107

| — || — || — || — || —

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1977–78

| University of Wisconsin

| WCHA

| 42 || 5 || 20 || 25 || 105

| — || — || — || — || —

|-

| 1978–79

| University of Wisconsin

| WCHA

| 40 || 16 || 28 || 44 || 105

| — || — || — || — || —

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1978–79

| Tulsa Oilers

| CHL

| 7 || 0 || 3 || 3 || 8

| — || — || — || — || —

|-

| 1979–80

| American National Team

| Intl

| 31 || 7 || 11 || 18 || 61

| — || — || — || — || —

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1981–82

| Nashville South Stars

| CHL

| 79 || 12 || 21 || 33 || 160

| 3 || 0 || 2 || 2 || 11

|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="3" | WCHA totals

! 157 !! 27 !! 76 !! 103 !! 377

! — !! — !! — !! — !! —

|}

International

{| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" ID="Table3" style="text-align:center; width:40em"

|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! Year

! Team

! Event

! rowspan="102" bgcolor="#ffffff"|

! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM

|-

| 1980

| United States

| OLY

| 7 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 6

|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="4"| Senior totals

! 7 !! 0 !! 0 !! 0 !! 6

|}

Awards and achievements

{| class="wikitable"

! Award

! Year

!

|-

| All-WCHA Second Team

| 1978–79

|

|-

|}

  • Gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics

References

  • Bob Suter's hockeydraftcentral.com bio
  • Bob Suter: #20, a brief history of Bob, Gary and Ryan Suter
  • Bob Suter's Capitol Ice Arena