Going for the Gold: Ryan Suter

 Earlier this month Ryan Suter donned his navy blue and white No. 20 jersey as he entered into his fifth season of playing for the Nashville Predators in the National Hockey League. Four months from now in February, he'll be sporting a red, white and blue jersey as he makes his debut as a member of Team USA.

Suter, 24, has dreamed of representing his country in the Olympic Winter Games. It's almost his rite of passage to be called a Suter since both his father and his uncle have Olympic medals.

Ryan's father, Bob, helped the U.S. Olympic Team defeat Russia and Finland to win Olympic gold in the "Miracle on Ice" at the Lake Placid 1980 Olympic Winter Games. Ryan's uncle and Bob's brother, Gary, played for America's Olympic Team in the Nagano 1998 Olympic Winter Games and captured silver in the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

It's no wonder Ryan wants his chance in Vancouver. He will find out if that dream will become a reality when the 23-man roster is announced in mid-December.

And there's a possibility the 2010 Games could be Suter's only chance to play for Team USA. The NHL and the NHL Players Association have yet to come to a final decision on whether to allow NHL players to partake in future Winter Games. The players would like to continue to have the opportunity to represent their countries, but the NHL does not like having to cease play for almost two weeks.

Suter grew up in Madison, Wis., watching and playing hockey. He used to bring his dad's Olympic Winter gold medal to school for show and tell, but he's never even seen a video of the medal-clinching game. In 2001, he started playing on the U.S. under-18 team, which he remained on for two seasons. He spent the 2003-2004 season with the University of Wisconsin.

Nashville drafted the 18-year-old defenseman seventh overall in 2003, but the NHL lockout occurred the following season. Instead of sitting around and waiting for things to get sorted out, Suter joined the Predators' American Hockey League affiliation, the Milwaukee Admirals.

The first-round draft pick made his official NHL debut in the 2005-2006 season with Nashville, and he's been there ever since. In June 2008, the Predators signed Suter to a four-year, $14 million deal. In the 2008-2009 NHL season, the 6-1, 194-pound athlete skated in all 82 regular-season games. Among defensemen, Suter was ranked 12th in assists (38) and 16th in points (45).

In May of this year, the left-handed blueliner played in all nine games for Team USA at the 2009 World Championships in Switzerland. The U.S. ended up losing to Sweden in the bronze-medal match, but Suter was named Team USA's Player of the Game.

Suter traveled to Chicago this past August to attend the Olympic Orientation Camp hosted by USA Hockey. It's only one of the beginning steps in preparing Team 2010 for the Winter Games. Team USA has tough competitors, including Canada, to conquer in Vancouver, but if Suter has any say in it, the U.S. men's ice hockey team is going all the way for that Olympic gold medal.

And it would only be fitting for Suter to achieve that in Vancouver in 2010, the year which also marks the 30th anniversary of his father's gold medal.