David Strader (February 24, 1955 – October 1, 2017) was an American sportscaster, primarily known for his play-by-play commentary of

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

. During his career, he worked on telecasts for the Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Phoenix Coyotes and

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and were founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minne ...

of the National Hockey League (NHL). He also worked nationally in the United States for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

, ABC, Versus, NBC, and NBCSN. On April 17, 2017 the Hockey Hall of Fame announced that Strader was the 2017 recipient of the

Foster Hewitt Memorial Award The Foster Hewitt Memorial Award is an annual accolade honoring a member of the ice hockey broadcasting world. It was named for the Canadian hockey radio broadcaster and newspaper journalist Foster Hewitt, and it has been presented every year at a ...

for his outstanding contributions to play-by-play broadcasting of the game of ice hockey. While hockey was his primary focus, he also called

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

, WNBA, and

NBA D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

games.

Biography

A native of

Glens Falls, New York Glens Falls is a city in Warren County, New York, United States and is the central city of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,700 at the 2010 census. The name was given by Colonel Johannes Glen, the falls ref ...

, Strader honed his broadcasting skills at the college radio station

WMUA WMUA (91.1 FM) is a student-run college radio station. Licensed to serve Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, the station is based on the campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The station's broadcast license is held by the Unive ...

91.1 while studying for his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in Communication Studies at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...

Broadcasting career

Local work

Strader's professional broadcasting career began as the radio announcer and public relations director for the

Adirondack Red Wings The Adirondack Red Wings were a minor professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Glens Falls, New York, United States at the Glens Falls Civic Center. The team was affiliated with the Detroit Red Wings of the Nation ...

of the AHL from 1979 to 1985. A two-time New York State Broadcasters Association honoree, Strader was named the AHL's top public relations professional in 1984. In 1985, the NHL's Detroit Red Wings called Strader up from the farm club, and he took over the play-by-play duties, calling TV games on both WKBD and PASS Sports alongside

Mickey Redmond Michael Edward Redmond (born December 27, 1947) is a Canadian former professional hockey player. He is currently a color commentator for Detroit Red Wings games on television for Bally Sports Detroit. Playing career Redmond played right win ...

until 1996. Strader called games for the Florida Panthers for the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons when not calling games for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

or Versus. Strader was hired by the Phoenix Coyotes on July 2, 2007. He was reunited with his former

and ABC partner,

Darren Pang Darren Robert Pang (born February 17, 1964) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played his professional career with the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (1984–85 and 1987–89). He is currently the lead c ...

, for Coyotes broadcasts for two seasons. With no television contract in place for Coyotes games, Pang left in 2009 to join the Blues. Strader was joined in the broadcast booth by former NHL player Tyson Nash. In July 2011, Strader left his position with the Coyotes to accept a full-time job with NBC/Versus. He joined the NHL Dallas Stars as their TV play-by-play voice at the start of the 2015-2016 NHL season. In June 2016, Strader was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a fairly rare and aggressive form of cancer of the

bile duct A bile duct is any of a number of long tube-like structures that carry bile, and is present in most vertebrates. Bile is required for the digestion of food and is secreted by the liver into passages that carry bile toward the hepatic duct. It ...

. During a break in his treatment, he returned to the broadcast booth on February 18, 2017, a 4-3 overtime home win against the

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...

. After the game, the Stars saluted Strader at center ice. Strader broadcast all five games of that Dallas home stand including one on NBC. In April 2017, he also broadcast games in the first round Stanley Cup playoff series between the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...

and

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

on NBC networks.

National work

After long time

broadcaster

Tom Mees Thomas E. Mees (October 13, 1949 – August 14, 1996) was an American sportscaster best known for his role in hosting professional and collegiate ice hockey and for being a prominent personality on ESPN during that network's early years. Early ...

died from drowning in 1996, Strader was hired by the cable network to take the vacant play-by-play spot on '' National Hockey Night'' broadcasts. Strader was usually paired with

and Brian Engblom on the network's secondary hockey broadcast team. When ABC got the NHL broadcast network contract in 2000, Strader worked for them as well. He also called NHL games for Fox in the mid-1990s, and the Stanley Cup Finals for NHL International from 1997-2015. He moved to

and Versus when they got the NHL contracts in 2005. Strader also provided hockey play-by-play for NBC's coverage of the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

Turin, Italy Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

, the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gret ...

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

, and the 2014 Winter Olympics in

Sochi, Russia Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents i ...

. Strader served as a last-minute play-by-play replacement for Mike Emrick on NBC's coverage of the NHL Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks on January 1, 2009, when Emrick was unable to broadcast the game due to laryngitis. Strader also called the 2011 NHL Heritage Classic on Versus, where the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

played the

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

McMahon Stadium McMahon Stadium is a Canadian football stadium in Calgary, Alberta. The stadium is owned by the University of Calgary and operated by the McMahon Stadium Society. The stadium is between the downtown core and the University of Calgary, north ...

in Calgary,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. In 2012 Strader covered the Battle 4 Atlantis men's college basketball preseason tournament on the

NBC Sports Network NBCSN was an American sports television channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated to programming prim ...

alongside

Donny Marshall Donny Marshall (born July 17, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player who played five seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Cleveland Cavaliers and New Jersey Nets. He is currently a college basketball te ...

Death

Strader died on October 1, 2017, at the age of 62 at his Glens Falls home, after his battle with bile duct cancer. The Hockey Hall of Fame had announced earlier that year on April 17 that Strader was the 2017 recipient of the

, but his actual induction ceremony was scheduled months later on November 13. At the time of the announcement, Strader stated that he was looking forward to the ceremony, saying that it was the greatest honor he had ever received. Due to his death, Strader's sons accepted the award posthumously at the November induction ceremony on his behalf.

References

External links

Sunsport TV entryFlorida Panthers entryVersus.com articleVoiceover artist page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strader, Dave 1955 births 2017 deaths American Hockey League broadcasters American television sports announcers Arizona Coyotes announcers College basketball announcers in the United States Dallas Stars announcers Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Deaths from cholangiocarcinoma Detroit Red Wings announcers Foster Hewitt Memorial Award winners Florida Panthers announcers National Hockey League broadcasters NBA G League broadcasters Olympic Games broadcasters Sportspeople from Glens Falls, New York Writers from New York (state) Women's college basketball announcers in the United States Women's National Basketball Association announcers