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18 // VARSITY February 13, 2014 Continued from Page 16 BY MIKE LUCAS // UWBADGERS.COM LUCAS AT LARGE it," said Bob, chuckling. "I'd find a spot for it." Suter's Gold Medal Sports, The Sequel? • • • • The roll call is impressive. Four Suters (brothers Bob, John, Gary and Bob's son, Ryan), three John- sons (brothers Mark and Peter and Mark's son, Patrick) and four Granatos (brothers Tony, Donny and Robby and cousin Kevin) have donned Badgers sweaters. For 11 uninterrupted years ― dating back to Tony Granato's fresh- man season in 1983 ― there was a Granato on the UW roster. Mean- while, Cammi Granato, a Princeton grad, was the first woman to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. She captained the 1998 U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal. Tony Granato said his sister, who has done some television work as a color analyst, was not going to Sochi because she has some young kids of her own now to take care of. "I still have my Badger family and that special bond with a lot of people back in Madison," said Tony Granato, who has stayed in touch with the likes of Gary Suter, Mike Richter, Paul Ranheim, Chris Che- lios and Tom Saggissor. "I still have pictures in my office of Badgers." Granato has an office with the Pittsburgh Penguins, with whom he has been an assistant coach for the last five seasons. His head coach, Dan Bylsma, is the coach of the U.S. Olympic team. "He's a tremendous communicator and very passionate about the game," Granato said. The Penguins have two play- ers with Team USA (Paul Martin and Brooks Orpik), two with Team Canada (Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz), two with Team Finland (Olli Maata and Jussi Jokinen) and Evgeni Malkin with Team Russia. "Once the puck drops, you're com- peting to be the best," Granato said. The Badgers will be represented by Suter ("He's a guy who can play big, big minutes," said Granato); Ryan McDonagh ("Very mobile and moves the puck well"); Derek Ste- pan ("Very intelligent and sees the game well"); and Joe Pavelski ("He's going to be counted on for big of- fensive production"). Asked to handicap the field, Granato, a former head coach with the Colorado Avalanche, called it wide-open to where "a hot goalie could win a medal." It's hockey, not brain surgery, though Granato knows something about the latter. He had surgery on his brain in 1996 and came back to be an all-star. It's why he received the Bill Mas- terton Trophy for the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication. And it's why he's grateful to be in Sochi as an assis- tant and he still gets chills thinking about Olympic competition, past and present. "As you get older," said Granato, 49, "you appreciate these opportu- nities even more."