Vol 3_No 1 Guts.indd - Rubber Magazine

Phoenix Coyotes
Strader reunites with old pal Pang
By Brett Fera
Dave Strader has been there,
seen that.
That’s why the veteran broadcaster
of 26 NHL seasons wasn’t
scared away from the opportunity
to take over this season as the
Phoenix Coyotes’ television playby-play
man, despite the Coyotes
recent run of less-than-stellar
Pacifi c Division fi nishes.
“I was fortunate my fi rst team
job was Detroit,”
said Strader, a
New York native
who will likely
also call games
nationally this
season for both
NBC and Versus.
“When I
went there in
‘85, thank goodness
we only
televised about
15 games because
they had, I
think, a 40-point
season. They
only had
less than 5,000
season-ticket
holders.”
Strader was
quick to point out, however, that
it wasn’t long before all was right
again in “Hockeytown,” and the
Red Wings were selling out every
game and winning the Stanley Cup.
“The Coyotes will have their
day,” Strader said. “And I wouldn’t
mind being part of it.”
Strader, who also spent time
working national telecasts for
ESPN over the past two decades,
said he fi rst learned of the opening
in Arizona from Mike Roth, a coordinating
producer locally for FSN
Arizona and former producer at
ESPN.
“There are a few guys in Arizona
I’m familiar when from when I was
with ESPN,” Strader said.
None, Strader said, carried the
infl uence of former NHL netminder
Darren Pang, the Coyotes television
analyst, who works side-byside
with the play-by-play voice
during telecasts.
“I worked with him more than
anyone else while I was ESPN,”
Strader said of his “new-old” television
partner. “We’ve become very
good friends.”
Strader said that friendship,
Dave Strader, right, has covered NHL games nationally for NBC, ESPN, Fox and ABC.
both on and off the air, was almost
destined from the start.
“The very fi rst game I did
for ESPN was the night before
Thanksgiving 1987 in Chicago,”
Strader said, noting that Pang was
Chicago’s backup goaltender and
came in midway through the contest
after the Blackhawks gave up
a fl urry of early scores. “I still have
the tape where (broadcast partner)
Bill Clement says, “Here comes
wee Darren Pang with his wee
white pads.”
Strader jokes of Pang’s diminutive
- at least in hockey terms
- stature, but he notes that, as a
player and broadcaster, “there are
very few guys that have worked
harder than Darren.”
“And to have a guy like Todd
Walsh, our sideline reporter, that’s
huge,” he added of Walsh, whose
position and knowledge of the game
locally is no longer a luxury, but a
necessity to earn back the fans.”
Admitting that the NHL is still
hampered by the lingering effects
of the player lockout earlier this
decade, Strader said he thinks
the Coyotes, thanks in large part
to president Doug
Moss, has the pieces
in place to regain the
public’s attention
span, and subsequently
hold on to it.
And with arguably
the game’s
greatest all-time star
- head coach Wayne
Gretzky - on board,
there’s no reason,
Strader says, that
Phoenix can’t become
a “Hockeytown” in its
own right.
Strader, who most
recently was the television
play-by-play
voice of the Florida
Panthers, said that
while he doesn’t come
to a city to root for a team, it helps
make his job both enjoyable and
relevant if that team is committed
to winning - something he said he’s
certain the Coyotes are.
“It is a fi ne line. But our job really
is different than the straight
journalist, and it’s different doing a
game for a team you cover regularly
than doing a network game, for
say ESPN or Versus,” Strader said.
“You do have to be careful because
the fans can see what you see, but
there’s a way to do it so you’re not
tearing the team down, but there’s
also a way to do it so the fans can
gain some good knowledge along
the way.” ❂
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