He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie in 1986, played in four All-Star Games and was a member of Calgary's Stanley Cup championship team in 1989.

He was a member of the American team that won the inaugural World Cup of Hockey in 1996 and was a two-time Olympian, winning a silver medal in 2002.

[2] Their father Marlow was a senior player in the 1950s,[3] and helped found and coach the Madison Capitols minor hockey system that all four boys played with in their youth.

[1][4] Gary idolized his brother Bob, who was a member of the American "Miracle on Ice" team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics.

[6] Suter established himself as one of the first star players in the USHL's junior era, improving to 39 points in 41 games in 1982–83 and leading Dubuque to the Clark Cup championship.

He was in his last year of draft eligibility and was hoping to follow other college players who signed lucrative contracts as free agents after going unselected.

[17] Suter finished the season with 18 goals, and his 68 points tied Al MacInnis for the team lead for scoring among defensemen.

He missed most of the 1989 Stanley Cup playoffs after suffering a broken jaw in Calgary's opening round series against the Vancouver Canucks.

[26] A career-high 23 goals led Suter's 81-point campaign in 1992–93,[9] but he again struggled with a pair of knee injuries that caused him to miss three months of the 1993–94 season and limited him to 25 games for the Flames.

The Flames sent Suter (along with Paul Ranheim and Ted Drury) to the Hartford Whalers in exchange for James Patrick, Zarley Zalapski and Michael Nylander.

"[28] Suter's tenure with the Whalers lasted only one day, as Hartford immediately traded him to the Chicago Blackhawks (along with Randy Cunneyworth and a draft pick) in exchange for František Kučera and Jocelyn Lemieux.

Unable to reach terms following the season, the Blackhawks quietly traded his negotiating rights to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a ninth-round pick a few days before he would have become an unrestricted free agent.

[36] Suter played only one game for the Sharks in the 1998–99 season, missing virtually the entire campaign after a microbe in his triceps caused an infection that required three surgeries to alleviate.

[37] Reaching a career milestone, Suter played in his 1,000th NHL game on October 25, 2000, scoring a goal in a 3–1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

[40] Signing a new one-year contract,[40] Suter returned to San Jose for a final season in 2001–02 in which he scored 33 points, including his 200th career goal, against the Philadelphia Flyers on January 2, 2002.

[43] The first came during the 1987 Canada Cup, when he was the target of international criticism following a violent confrontation with Andrei Lomakin in a game against the Soviet Union.

In the second game, Suter was responsible for two turnovers that led to goals, including what proved to be the championship-winning marker in a 4–2 victory for Canada.

[45] However, Suter would avenge this loss five years later, as he was a member of the American team that defeated Canada to win the inaugural World Cup of Hockey in 1996.

[49] Suter returned to Wisconsin following his playing career, settling in the rural community of Minocqua where he and his wife Cathy raised their family.

[51] Instead, he turned to coaching, working with the Madison Capitols program,[52] as well as assisting with the Lakeland Union High School T-Birds in Minocqua.

[2] Gary is one of several members of the Suter family who operate a youth hockey camp in Madison that was held for the 17th year in 2012.