Sator played college hockey for Bowling Green State University.[2] During his senior year, the 1971–72 season, for the Falcons, Sator played 27 games, where he tallied 5 goals and assisted on 6 others; helping the Falcons finish the season with a record of 21-10-2.[3] He was also selected to play with the U.S. World Team in Lake Placid, New York.[2] Following his collegiate career, Sator joined the Long Island Ducks of the Eastern Hockey League (EHL) in the following year. Sator's playing career came to an end due to a knee injury after only playing three games for the Ducks.[2]
Coaching career
Professional coaching career
Sator began his coaching career in the early 1980s, serving as head coach of Rögle BK for the 1982-83 season in the Swedish Division 1 league.[1] That same year he also spent time as a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League.[1] Sator joined the Flyers coaching staff the following season, becoming assistant coach under head coach Bob McCammon during the 1983-84 season,[4][5] and remaining as assistant coach under new head coach Mike Keenan during the 1984–85 season.[2][6]
At just 35 years of age, Sator was named head coach of the New York Rangers, leading up to the 1985-1986 season.[7][8][9] He implemented a buttoned-down defensive style, under which the team finished with a record of 36-38-6, good for fourth place in the Patrick Division. This was the same position the team had finished the prior season, although this time they had improved by 16 points, from 62 to 78.[10] In the playoffs, the team then shocked first the Flyers and then the Washington Capitals, thus making the Conference finals. Now one of four teams left, they lost to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Montreal Canadiens.[11][2]
Despite the playoff run, General Manager Craig Patrick, whose contract had expired, was not retained by the Rangers for the following season. He was replaced by Phil Esposito.[12][13] Speculation regarding Sator's job immediately followed.[14]
Sator's time with the Rangers was not appreciated by many of his charges. Numerous players rebelled against Sator, with both his restrictive style of play as well as his allegedly controlling personality leading three of the team's biggest stars - Mark Pavelich, Reijo Ruotsalainen, and team captain Barry Beck - to simply leave the team and go home.[15] Another star player, popular sniper Pierre Larouche, was benched.[16][17] Only 19 games into his second season as head coach, the new general manager fired Sator, after the team began the season in last place, posting a 5-10-4 record.[18][2][19] He was replaced by Tom Webster.
Sator quickly found a new position when he was named head coach of the Buffalo Sabres for the following year, 1987-1988.[2] In his first full season with the Buffalo Sabres they achieved the biggest point improvement in the NHL.[2][20] He coached to two third-place finishes but was unable to get the team past the Stanley Cup finalist Boston Bruins in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and was relieved of his coaching duties in 1989.[21][22]
Over the next two seasons, Sator was an assistant coach with the Boston Bruins before traveling to Italy to become head coach of the HC Devils Milano of the Serie A in 1991.[1] Sator's team went undefeated on in his first season as head coach of the Devils and won the Serie A championship.[2] Sator led the Devils to back-to-back Serie A league championships when the team won again in 1993.[2] Sator returned to the United States and NHL the following season, taking an assistant coaching position with the St. Louis Blues.[1] After two seasons in St. Louis, Sator spent the next two seasons as assistant coach of the Hartford Whalers, and Vancouver Canucks (where he split time between Vancouver and the Canucks American Hockey League farm team, the Syracuse Crunch.[1] Beginning in 1997, Sator began a successful five year coaching stint with the New Orleans Brass,[1] where he was also Director of Player Personnel. During his tenure with the Brass, the team made the ECHL playoffs every season and never had a losing season record.[2]
Sator returned to Europe after the Brass folded in 2002. Sator became the head coach of the Espoo Blues in the SM-liiga for the 2003-2004 season.[1] From 2007 to 2009 he served as head coach of the Hungarian Austrian Hockey League team Alba Volán Székesfehérvár.[2] In 2009, he was hired as head coach of the KHL Medveščak, based in Zagreb, Croatia.[23] In the team's first season in the Austrian Hockey League the team qualified for last Playoff seed. The team stunned top seeded Graz 99ers in the Quarterfinals, winning the series in six games, before suffering elimination to eventual champions EC Red Bull Salzburg in the semi-finals.[23]
