On April 17, 2017 the
Hockey Hall of Fame announced that Strader was the 2017 recipient of the
Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for his outstanding contributions to play-by-play broadcasting of the game of ice hockey.[3]
Strader's professional broadcasting career began as the radio announcer and public relations director for the
Adirondack Red Wings 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 until 1996. Strader called games for the
Florida Panthers for the
2005–06 and
2006–07 seasons when not calling games for
NBC or Versus.[4][5] Strader was hired by the
Phoenix Coyotes on July 2, 2007.[6] He was reunited with his former
ESPN/
ABC partner,
Darren Pang, for Coyotes broadcasts for two seasons. With no television contract in place for Coyotes games, Pang left in 2009 to join the
St. Louis Blues, and
Tyson Nash joined him in the broadcast booth.
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.[7][8]
In June 2016, Strader was diagnosed with
cholangiocarcinoma, a fairly rare and aggressive form of cancer of the
bile duct.[9][10][11] During a break in his treatment, he returned to the broadcast booth on February 18, 2017, the first of the five-game Dallas home stand,[12][13][14] a 4-3 overtime home win against the
Tampa Bay Lightning. After the game, the Stars saluted Strader at center ice.[15][16][17] In all, he broadcast all five games of that Dallas home stand including one on NBC on February 26, 2017.[12][13][14] In April 2017, he also broadcast games in the first round Stanley Cup playoff series between the
Washington Capitals and
Toronto Maple Leafs on NBC networks.[18][19][20]
National work
After long time
ESPN broadcaster
Tom Mees 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
Darren Pang 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.
The
Hockey Hall of Fame had announced earlier that year on April 17 that Strader was the 2017 recipient of the
Foster Hewitt Memorial Award, but his actual induction ceremony was scheduled months later on November 13.[3] 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.[29][30] Due to his death, Strader's sons accepted the award posthumously at the November induction ceremony on his behalf.[31] In addition, three days later,
Mike Emrick,
NBC's lead play-by-play announcer, paid a tribute to him, in a full segment during the first intermission.[32] On October 7, 2017, the Stars and Vegas Golden Knights paid a moment of silence in his honor, while also honoring a Stars staff member killed in the summer, and the
2017 Las Vegas shooting victims.[33][34][35]