Behind the Broadcast: Strader finally finds stability as part of Versus’ NHL team

80

SHARES

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us

Save

Share

Glens Falls native Dave Strader is back in the national spotlight, and on a regular basis.

And not having to worry about a team moving is a big relief to him, too.

Strader, the original play-by-play voice of the Adirondack Red Wings, is calling NHL games for Versus. Strader in the No. 2 broadcast team, and will work with analyst Brian Engblom. The two worked together at ESPN, when Strader called games for the cable network from 1996-2004.

“It’s exciting in a lot of different levels to get back doing games like this,” the 56-year-old Strader said in a telephone interview from Vancouver, British Columbia, where he called the Pittsburgh Penguins-Vancouver Canucks game. “We all want to do meaningful games. That’s the thing in this business, and the best way to do meaningful games is to be able to work in the playoffs. With this new 10-year deal that NBC Sports Group has, it’s going to be a great opportunity for a long time to call games during the season, and then be able to do those playoff games at the end of the year, which are a bonus for everybody.”

When ESPN dropped the NHL after the 2004-05 lockout ended, Strader became the TV voice of the Florida Panthers. He spent the last four seasons as the TV play-by-play voice of the Phoenix Coyotes. But the Coyotes’ situation in Phoenix has been shaky. There had been speculation that the team would move back to Winnipeg, where it came from in 1996.

While the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg in the offseason, the Coyotes’ situation continues to be fluid.

With NBC Sports Group signing a 10-year deal to televise the NHL, Strader was offered the opport­unity to call games for Versus. He jumped at the chance.

“It was a factor,” Strader said about the Coyotes’ situation. “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t. It was a great organization to work with. The TV people, the hockey oper­ations people were all first class. It was a great place to spend winters. If you’re going to be in two places, summers in the Adirondacks and winters in Arizona is not a bad way to do it.

“It really was tough going through three consecutive years of not knowing if you’re going to be there the following year. If I was 35, I’d probably would have handled it a lot differently. But at this stage of my career, I was looking for a little bit more security and not having to worry year-to-year about stuff.”

In addition to the NHL games, Strader will get to work Olympic hockey games for NBC Sports Group.

Strader will also be featured on the radio. He is finalizing a deal to appear on “Big Board Sportstalk with Rodger Wyland” every Tuesday at 10:05 a.m. to talk about the NHL.

Williams done

Turn out the lights on Hank Will­iams Jr. The party is over for him on ESPN.

ESPN announced Thursday that Williams will no longer open “Monday Night Football” with “All My Rowdy Friends Are Here for Monday Night” song. The song was pulled from Monday’s Indianap­olis-Tampa Bay game after he compared President Obama to Hitler in an interview on FOX News’ “Fox and Friends” Monday morning.

In a statement, ESPN said, “We have decided to part ways with Hank Williams Jr. We appreciate his contributions over the past years. The success of ‘Monday Night Football’ has always been about the games and that will continue.”

In a statement to The Associated Press, Williams said, “After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have made MY decision. By pulling my opening Oct. 3rd, You [ESPN] stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE. It’s been a great run.”

Football schedules

Here are the college football games and NFL games that will be televised over the next several days.

The game schedule will also include Internet broadcasts on ESPN3.com. Most ESPN and ESPN2 games will be on ESPN3.com.

Announcers, in order of play-by-play, analyst and sideline reporters, are in parentheses. Announcing pairings and game broadcasts are subject to change.

NFL

Sunday

FOX23 and FOX23 HD — Seattle at

N.Y. Giants, 1 p.m. (Thom Brennaman/Troy Aikman/Pam Oliver).

CBS6 and CBS6 HD — Tennessee at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m. (Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf); N.Y. Jets at New England, 4:15 p.m. (Jim Nantz/Phil Simms).

NBC13 and NBC13 HD — Green Bay at Atlanta, 8:20 p.m. (Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Michele Tafoya).

Monday

ESPN and ESPN HD — Chicago at Detroit, 8:30 p.m. (Mike Tirico/Jon Gruden and Ron Jaworski).

College Football

Today

Time Warner Cable Sports-3 and TWCS3 HD — Connecticut at West Virginia, noon (Mike Gleason/John Congemi/Eamon McAnaney); Ohio at Buffalo, 3:30 p.m. (Howard Simon/Marlon Kerner/Ben Wagner).

ABC10 and ABC10 HD — Oklahoma vs. Texas, noon (Brent Musburger/Kirk Herbstreit/Erin Andrews); Iowa at Penn State, 3:30 p.m. (Dave Pasch/Chris Spielman and Urban Meyer/Quint Kessenich); Ohio State at Nebraska, 8 p.m. (Sean McDonough/Matt Millen/Heather Cox).

ESPN and ESPN HD — Minnesota at Purdue, noon (Beth Mowins/Mike Bellotti);

Miami (Fla.) at Virginia Tech, 3:30 p.m. (Mike Patrick/Craig James); Auburn at Ark­ansas, 7 p.m. (Brad Nessler/Todd Blackledge/Holly Rowe).

ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD — Louisville at North Carolina, noon (Bob Wischusen/Bob Davie); Georgia at Tennessee, 7 p.m. (Mark Jones/Ed Cunningham/Jeannine Edwards).

ESPNU and ESPNU HD — Maryland at Georgia Tech, noon (Rob Stone/Danny Kanell); Pittsburgh at Rutgers, 3:30 p.m. (Pam Ward/Dan Hawkins); Vanderbilt at Alabama, 7 p.m. (Clay Matvick/Brian

Griese/Allison Williams); San Jose State at Brigham Young, 10:30 p.m. (Adam Amin/David Diaz-Infante).

ESPN3.com — Murray State at Georgia State, noon (announcers TBA); Army at Miami (Ohio), 1 p.m. (announcers TBA); Bowling Green at Western Michigan, 2 p.m. (announcers TBA); Sam Houston State at Stephen F. Austin, 2 p.m. (announcers TBA); North Dakota State at Southern Illinois,

3 p.m. (announcers TBA); Eastern Michigan at Toledo, 3 p.m. (announcers TBA); Chattanooga at Georgia Southern, 3 p.m. (announcers TBA); Missouri at Kansas State, 3:30 p.m. (Carter Blackburn/Brock Huard); Central Michigan at North Carolina State, 3:30 p.m. (Dave Weekley/Rene Ingoglia); Gannon at California (Pa.), 3:30 p.m. (announcers TBA); Liberty at Gardner-Webb, 4 p.m. (announcers TBA); Troy at Louis­iana-Lafayette, 7 p.m. (Jim Barbar/Warrick Dunn); Florida Atlantic at North Texas,

7:30 p.m. (announcers TBA).

MY4 and MY4 HD — Florida State at Wake Forest, 12:30 p.m. (Steve Martin/Dave Archer/Scott Pryzwanksy).

Big Ten Network and BTN HD — Illinois at Indiana, 2:30 p.m. (Eric Collins/Chris Martin/Dionne Miller); Michigan at Northwestern, 7 p.m. (Tom Hart/Derek Rackley/Lisa Byington).

CBS6 and CBS6 HD — Florida at LSU,

3:30 p.m. (Verne Lundquist/Gary Danielson/Tracy Wolfson).

CBSN and CBSN HD — Southern Mississippi at Navy, 3:30 p.m. (Tim Brant/Randy Cross/Kaylee Hartung); East Carolina at Houston, 7 p.m. (Dave Ryan/Rich Rod­riguez); Texas Christian at San Diego State, 10:30 p.m. (James Bates/Aaron Taylor/Brooke Collins).

MSG Plus and MSG Plus HD — Washington State at UCLA (joined in progress), 11:30 p.m. (Joel Meyers/Brian Baldinger/Jim Knox).

Thursday

ESPNU and ESPNU HD — Texas Southern at Alabama A&M, 7:30 p.m. (Anish Shroff/Jay Walker).

ESPN and ESPN HD — Southern California at California, 9 p.m. (Rece Davis/Craig James and Jesse Palmer/Jenn Brown).

Friday

ESPN and ESPN HD — Hawaii at San Jose State, 9 p.m. (Joe Tessitore/Rod Gilmore).

80

SHARES

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us

Save

Share

Categories: Sports