Emotional Ryan Suter reflects on his dad, talks about moving on

Ryan Suter, the Wild's often unemotional rock of a defenseman who logs gigantic minutes seemingly effortlessly, rejoined the Wild on Friday -- 10 days after losing his dad, Bob, suddenly at the age of 57.

Having not skated since, Suter still jumped right into a scrimmage, then a subsequent practice.

Suter then courageously stood in front of the cameras and microphones and recorders and emotionally talked about his father and best friend, what the last 10 days have been like, the support he and his family have received and how he must move on.

"It's good to be back around the guys," Suter said. "Obviously we went through a pretty tough thing a week ago and to be back around here, it's good to get your mind off of it."

Asked how he's doing, Suter's eyes welled: As good as you can. My dad, we were pretty close. So, … ... we were really close. Just a really good guy, a hard-working guy. I'm going to miss him."

Bob Suter, the Wild scout and member of the 1980 "Miracle on Ice," suffered a heart attack at Capital Ice Arena in Middleton, Wisconsin, the rink he owned with Ryan.

Since, Ryan Suter said the support has been amazing "starting with Craig [Leipold] flying the whole team there, it's a pretty special thing. For those guys to be there, it was awesome. Every one of them has reached out to me and tried to help. I can't say enough about the group of guys and the organization."

"To have over 4,000 people come to the wake was pretty special. They were turning people away. That just shows what kind of guy he was, what kind of impact he had on hockey and on people. A lot of people have come up to me and said he helped make [them] the person that they are today. It's pretty special to hear that. I hear people that are 40-some years old saying that and then the young kids, you see the young kids how devastated they were. It's pretty special. But it's over with and we have to move on and have a really good year for him.

To be on the ice, Suter said, "Ten days off and jumping into a scrimmage is tough, but it'll get better. As we start playing games, getting closer to that, your mindset changes. That's kind of the cool thing about hockey. You get to get out on the ice and you don't really have to think about anything. You can just go out and be in your own little world.

Asked what qualities he got from his dad, Ryan said, "I can talk about his qualities. I'll let you guys judge the rest (laughing). My dad was a hard-working guy. He wore his blue jeans and work boots to work everyday. He didn't expect anything from anyone. Everything he got he worked for. He wasn't ashamed to be in his work boots and to be at the rink from sunup to sundown on the weekends. He loved helping kids. He was just a really good person and good role model."

Suter said, "Leaving [Wisconsin] is tough. It was tough to leave (welling up). ... It was tough leaving to come up here because it was close and I knew he loved coming up here to watch games. It [stinks]. I feel bad for everybody that's gone through it."

Players were glad to see Suter back.

Parise was amazed how Suter was able to jump back into a scrimmage without skating for 10 days: "I feel like garbage after not skating for two days. I can't imagine with everything he's gone through and then on top of that not skaying. After the first 10 minutes, he was back to his old self. I don't think anybody has to be worried."