My Draft Day: Duane Sutter

Duane Sutter's road to the NHL would be one-of-a-kind, except for the fact that five of his six brothers, who also made the NHL, can tell a similar tale.

Sutter grew up in Viking, Alberta on a small farm with his parents and six brothers and credited his rigorous work ethic to his family upbringing.

"We had to roll our sleeves up and pitch in and help out with the gardens and the cattle and the crops and all that, so we learned to work hard," Sutter told the Talkin' Isles podcast. "Our parents instilled that into us. Once your work was done you could play. Once you played, you played to win, and that's probably what really paved the way for how we played the game."

He recalled what it was like playing hockey with just the seven of them on the farm. The brothers picked teams amongst themselves, inevitably leading to fights and a competitive atmosphere. Sutter explained that after a few bad fights, their mom confiscated the tennis balls they were using to play. Unsurprisingly, twin brothers, Ron and Rich, were sent on a mission to find the tennis balls so they could resume.

"It was competitive," Sutter said. "It really, really made us into the types of players that we became."

After playing hockey as a kid, and then on various junior league teams throughout the 1970s, Sutter received the call that would change his life in August 1979, but this is where his story diverges from his brothers.

First, Sutter, who was back home on the family farm in August, didn't even know if he was draft eligible. (The 1979 NHL Entry Draft was the first draft after the NHL-WHA merger and also the first year the draft eligible age was lowered from 20 to 19.)

"It was a little bit of an unknown on what age groups were going to be eligible," Sutter said. "In a way that probably made it easier on myself because I played the whole regular season not really knowing if I was even eligible for the draft at that time, and it was also the only time in history that the draft was held in August."

When Sutter received a phone call from New York, he thought he was being pranked.

"I picked up the phone and the voice says 'this is Bill Torrey' and I thought, not a chance. Like this is brother Brian or one of the older brother's screwing around. And he said 'how would you like to play in New York?' And I said 'I don't think so' and basically hung up." Sutter said with a laugh.

About five minutes after Sutter hung up on Torrey, his brother Brian called. Brian explained that Earl Ingarfield, the second coach for the Isles in their inaugural 1972-73 season, reached out and said "Brian, tell him it's Bill Torrey calling and to take the call for Christ's sakes."

Torrey called again.

"We just drafted the 17th overall, what do you think?" he said.

Sutter apologized for hanging up and quickly expressed his interest in the position and his thankfulness to Torrey.

Sutter was the 17th overall pick in the first round of the 1979 draft. His rookie season, 1979-80, was the first year of the Islanders Stanley Cup dynasty and Sutter ended up being a key contributor in all four Stanley Cup championships. He's 25th in team history with 292 points, 25th in games played with 574 and sixth in penalty minutes with 893.

Sutter's story exemplifies true determination and grit, two attributes born on the family farm and crucial to Islander identity. It's a good thing he answered the second call.