The Russian Five: A Story of Espionage, Defection, Bribery and Courage

by Keith Gave

When the Detroit Red Wings were rebooting their franchise after more than two decades of relative futility, they knew the best place to find world-class players who could help turn things around more quickly were conscripted servants behind the Iron Curtain.

All they had to do then was make history by drafting them, then figure out how to get them out. That’s when the Wings turned to Keith Gave, the newsman whose clandestine mission to Helsinki, Finland, was the first phase of a of a years-long series of secret meetings from posh hotel rooms to remote forests around Europe to orchestrate their unlawful departures from the Soviet Union.

One defection created an international incident and made global headlines. Another player faked cancer, thanks to the Wings’ extravagant bribes to Russian doctors, including a big American car. Another player who wasn’t quite ready to leave yet felt like he was being kidnapped by an unscrupulous agent. Two others were outcast when they stood up publicly against the Soviet regime, winning their freedom to play in the NHL only after years of struggle.

They are the Russian Five: Sergei Fedorov, Viacheslav Fetisov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Vyacheslav Kozlov and Igor Larionov. Their individual stories read like pulse-pounding spy novels. The story that unfolded after they were brought together in Detroit by the masterful coach Scotty Bowman is unforgettable.

This story includes details never before revealed, and by the man who was there every step of the way – from the day Detroit drafted its first two Soviets in 1989 until they raised the Stanley Cup in 1997, then took it to Moscow for a victory lap around Red Square and the Kremlin.

The Russian Five did more to bridge Russian and American relations than decades of diplomacy and détente between the White House and the Kremlin. This is their story.

Genres: Sports, Hockey, Nonfiction, History, Book Club, Russia, Audiobook

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 20, 2018

About the author

Keith Gave spent six years in the United States Army as a Russian linguist working for the National Security Agency during the Cold War. Nothing could have better prepared him for a career as a sports writer covering hockey for the Detroit Free Press.

His 15 years with the newspaper were the highlight of a career spanning nearly 40 years in the news industry, which include 14 years as a college journalism instructor. He also contributed as a writer/producer to the documentary film, The Russian Five, scheduled for release in 2018. He lives in Roscommon, Michigan, where he continues to write when he’s not sneaking off to cast a fly to the trout on his home waters of the Au Sable River.

Reviews

[Devin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a great story, but I found that it could have been written better. The tale could have easily been told chronologically, but instead Gave chose to backtrack multiple times to the point that it was hard for me to keep up what had and had not happened yet, although Gave did his best to remind readers which events had yet to come. There was also an issue of overusing quotes from the players. It was great to have direct quotes, but when a single chapter had one every other paragraph and they all pretty much said the same thing, it drove me a little mad. The book started to feel really repetitive about half way through, partially because of quote over-usage. Despite that, I did still appreciate the story overall and still found it a valuable read.

[Christopher Sauchak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay. Here's a quick review.

One the one hand I'm glad this story was told because the geopolitical Cold War aspect of the story is always going to be fascinating. (It's crazy this still happens in baseball and other sports!) So I was definitely here for that. Plus it involved my favorite ice hockey team and I have vivid memories as a teenager watching the culmination of this story reach its victorious peak.

But...in the end this felt more like propaganda than a journalist writing a book about a significant moment in hockey history after so many years. The making of the documentary is mentioned numerous times. The owner of the publishing company is an agent for a lot of the best current Russian NHL players and the producer of the documentary about this book. Knowing this clouds a little of the wonderful nostalgia of it for me.

Do not get me wrong, I'm still giving it a positive rating because the subject matter is necessary to my fandom and interests, but I'm a little wary of the ulterior motives promoted in this book.

One other small quibble--Due to the nonlinear storytelling, some stories are repeated throughout the book, but in a few instances in back to back chapters and if I recall correctly once on back to back pages straddling two chapters. Perhaps it was my recent civic duty of sitting on a jury, but I do not need to hear the same story told more than once from the same perspective.

Thank you for your time and space.

Sincerely,
Christopher Sauchak

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It would take a lot—like, a lot—for me to not enjoy a book about my favourite athletes of all time. I'll never forget going to JLA to see these guys play, or having their jerseys and getting them signed, or meeting them at JLA events, or even when Larionov came to the ice rink where I played hockey.

So 4 stars it is. Having said that, Gave's book is very redundant. The book's chronology, as others have noted, jumps around a lot. That's fine. That's how memory works. You think of 1997, then go back to 1989, then to 1997. He divides the book up, at the beginning, going player by player. Problematically, that means starting with Fedorov and Konstantinov, both of whom have what are objectively the funnest stories to read. So there's a downward slope. Secondly, the book ends on a dour note. I remember the 1998 season a lot more fondly than Gave presents it; you get the impression that there wasn't a moment of joy in 1998: just contract holdouts and dismal reminders of Konstantinov's ailing state. Thirdly, there are perhaps too many interviews for each topic. And that brings me to the fourth and final bone I want to pick: it's really redundant. There are moments where I swear Gave copied and pasted his copy. A few times I flipped pages around to make sure I hadn't accidentally gone back 15 pages. And by interviewing so many people about one topic, he gets the same pull quotes over and over. Hockey players are introspective, but they aren't typically nuanced orators. Listen to the postgame interviews of any player and you'll hear the same two-dollar phrases being thrown around. How many times can people say, "Those guys were great. They brought a new dynamic to the game. They were amazing teammates."

The book works best in the first half, when Gave details how each player was smuggled out of the Soviet Union. Here, there is a unique story to tell and it's a story we've never heard before. (By the time the 1997 season rolls around, it feels like it's mere preamble to the limo crash.) Who could have imagined the espionage that went into contacting Sergei and Vlad. It's exciting in ways no other sports book can be, because no other sporting phenomenon was such an international, geopolitical thrill-ride. (Gave would be wise to ditch the Capitalist/Communist dichotomy, though. He can't mention Soviet oppression without calling it Communist, which in 1989 was about as true as saying the Red Wings wore blue.)

Looking this back over, it seems pretty negative; but I don't mean to be negative. The book is a thrill-ride, and I didn't want it to end.

[Lance · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the first 75 years or so of its existence, the National Hockey League consisted mostly of Canadian and American players. Slowly, European players started playing during the 1970s. But when five players from Russia who played for the famed Red Army team helped restore glory to the Detroit Red Wings in the 1990’s, the hockey world took notice. The stories behind these players and the extraordinary danger to get some of them to Detroit is captured in this very good book by Keith Gave.

As a journalist who spoke Russian, Gave had a role with Red Wings personnel by traveling to Helsinki to speak with one of the players. Because of this, he was able to provide a viewpoint that makes the stories terrific. They would be intriguing enough as some of the methods used to get the players out of Russia were straight out of Cold War spy novels, such as faking a cancer diagnosis for Vladimir Konstintinov.

These pages were even better than the hockey passages, which were decent but often repetitive. The reader will be reminded several times, for just two examples, that the New Jersey Devils swept the Red Wings in the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals and that the author introduced the reader to the “Green Unit” several times. The chapters on the hockey team felt like they were previous articles put together for the book instead of written as one story.

That doesn’t take away from the riveting stories of the five Russians, the danger they faced when leaving Russia and the sheer joy they felt when they and the Red Wings won back to back Stanley Cups in 1997 and 1998. The latter one was especially touching as the team brought the Cup to Konstintinov in a wheelchair. He, along with a team masseuse, were seriously injured in a car accident soon after the 1997 victory and the team wanted to let him know that he was still a part of the team.Those stories are why this book should be on the shelves of all hockey fans, especially Red Wings fans

https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another terrific hockey book to add to the collection. This is the story of the five Russian/Soviet hockey players who came together to provide a foundation for the Red Wings dynasty. The book follows the five from their defections through their eventual Stanley Cup victories. Some neat things I learned in the book was the way Eastern Bloc nations used military service to prevent athletes from defecting. Petr Klima was the first from an eastern bloc country, but had to wait until his time in the military was complete.
What could have strengthened the book was a follow-up on the mentoring the five would do to other Russians (Datsuyk for instance). Further, an exploration or dedicated chapter to Scotty Bowman's insights on integrating European players. The younger Russians thrived when they had older players to look up to (even today Malkin/Gonchar).

[Jason Weber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! I’m a huge hockey fan (Go Devils) and this book is a must read for any true hockey fan.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is about the efforts to recruit the best Russian hockey players in the waning days of the Soviet Union for the Detroit Red Wings, which eventually resulted in multiple championships. As a person who follows hockey only casually, I thought this was a compelling and interesting book which shed light on how hockey is played, the inner workings of the NHL, and the distinct styles of play by North American and Russian hockey, along with a good primer on how the Soviet Union developed such dominant styles of play. The story follows as the Detroit Red Wings try to get various players to defect, much in the way Cuban baseball players have defected in recent years, or leaving suddenly from their national teams at international tournaments or by being smuggled out, or a combination.
Gave, who was a journalist for the Detroit Free Press and served as an intermitaroy between the Red Wings and the players, writes in a compelling, though sometimes confusing manner since he jumps time periods between the recruiting and the ultimate championships. Sergie Federov, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Viacheslav Fetisov, Vladimir Konstantinov, and Igor Larionov joined the Red Wings in the last days of the Soviet Union or in the early days of the Russian Federation or near the end of their playing careers to form the first all-Russian line in NHL history, bringing a style of play that had been developed by the dominant Red Army club where so many elite Soviet athletes played, of puck control, speed, and agility rather than brute size and strength. Fascinately, the Soviet Union developed their hockey from scratch, as they did not start playing hockey until after WW2 except similar folk games, as way to beat capitalist countries in international competitions (again, see Cuban baseball for a similar example.) 
The Red Wings first took advantage of the rapidly disintegrating Soviet system by throwing money at the players, who were demonstrated to be the best in the world, to defect. Gave tells of harrowing disappearances which were risky since they were technically deserting their posts and faced strong repercussions back home. By the early 1990s after the fall, however, Russians were signed up quickly and with only legal repercussions, which I wish Gave had gone into more of its effects on Russian hockey at home (from what I understand, it was highly detrimental.) Over on the Red Wings, going against the notion that too many Europeans on a team made it soft, they built a dominant club that finally broke a decades long championship drought in 1997 (against my team of choice, the Philadelphia Flyers.) Tragically, Konstantinov is maimed in an accident after the Finals and never plays again, though the Wings win 3 more championships with what they built. 
Fast moving book, that really explores how the NHL tapped into the Russian player labor market, through the eyes of the first team to do so in a real way, the Detroit Red Wings. In the process, it shows two conflicting sports cultures that are brought together when a more dominant one is able to take advantage of a crumbling one (or that the players wanted freedom, whichever interpretation you want to take.) Good book, especially for a casual hockey fan like me.

[Pamela Chelekis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish there were half stars, because I'm inclined to give it 3.5 stars.

It's a very interesting read -- especially if you're a fan of hockey, or remember living through the high times of Red Wings in the late nineties. The first half is intriguing as it documents the difficulties in getting the Russian players to the US. The second half is a more or less standard account of the Red Wings winning Stanley Cups, and while it has a big heap of nostalgia loaded onto it, the book feels like it looses a little steam.

(Having seen the documentary this book coincides with -- the documentary captures the feel of the era bit better, even if the book goes into more detail about things.)

My biggest issue is the writing style, which is more like a collection of newspaper articles than an overarching narrative. It could have used a better editor. Facts and stories become redundant as the narrative skips around in time, often going over the same thing multiple times. There are times when I wish we could have gotten more details. And there was even an instance when the same two sentences were repeated twice, only in a different format -- clearly someone forgot to delete the original two sentences when revising. The whole thing feels a bit messier than it needed to be.

Overall, though, it's an interesting read, and one I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys stories about hockey.

[Irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you told me that I would cry multiple times while reading a nonfiction account of a hockey team that I do not follow, I wouldn't have believed you but here we are. I'm a sucker for a narrative. This had moments where it was astonishingly good (see aforementioned crying). The stories of how the players left Russia truly read like a series of thrillers. The details of how they changed the way hockey is played in the NHL is fascinating. The pathos as they push towards finally winning a Stanley Cup is...a lot.

My only criticism is that there are odd parts which are told out of chronological order. As someone who doesn't follow the Redwings and didn't know much about the Russian Five before this, it made middle portions of the book confusing as I had a hard time slotting what was happening into the larger timeline. Still, I more or less read this in two sittings. (Admittedly, one was in August and the other in December.)

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story, especially because I didn't know all the details of this era for the Red Wings, so I was in for some Surprises.

Kind of a bummer to end the book and see how many of these guys who had to literally escape Russia slunk back and are now buddies with Putin...

The four stars are less of a politics thing though and more of a "you can hear the author's voice and POV a little too much more than I'd care to."

[Shari Suarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a huge Red Wings fan and I remember when the Wings helped Fedorov defect. This book delves into the Russian Five's individual careers and what brought them to the United States and eventually the Red Wings. The author is a journalist who helped facilitate contact with Sergei Fedorov and Vladimir Konstantinov and the writing is good but he does jump around with time periods quite a bit. This book brought back so many memories for me and I even shed a few tears.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating! This is “my team!” Getting all the background on how the Russian Five came to our team brings back all the feels. The details of the years leading up to the ‘97 Cup, the tragic end to the celebration, and the “Believe” season leading to the ‘98 Cup….just fantastic. I love this team. #LGRW

[Mylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one but felt that a chronological telling of the story of the Russian Five would've been a lot more effective. Jumping back and forth and repeating storylines became a bit repetitive. That being said, a story I really enjoyed reading, as I was a young Wings fan during their glory years in the late 90s. Looking forward to watching the documentary.

[emma]

putting this on hold for now bc my library loan ran out but i’ll come back to it later

[Kristie Rust · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read for Wings fans! So much I didn’t know. Who knew I’d ball my eyes out reliving 1997.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a huge Red Wings fan, I wanted to love this book. While I enjoyed the story, I wish the plot hadn’t jumped back and forth as much as it did, often with multiple tellings of the same part of the story. It’s definitely worth a read, but overall I felt the writing could have been better.

[Karen Muni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read

Very well written. Written in vivid detail of the Russian Five. This is a must have for any red wing fan.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

"You have created an international incident, sir. My boss is going to call you."

-

"I'm fucking ecstatic. You want to know why? Because today we drafted the best young hockey player in the entire fucking world. And we got him in the fourth fucking round. His name is Sergei Fedorov, and wait until you see him play."

The Russian Five is very clearly an American book.

I don't know if boomers realize how poisoned they are from the Cold War. Then again, I don't know if most Americans—of any age—realize how deeply our cultural prejudices about Russians and Eastern Europeans run. I desperately wish I could read a version of this book written by a Russian author, because Gave was so, so American in this book.

It took me aback at some points; in the PROLOGUE ITSELF we got a framing device that immediately positioned Russians as beleaguered, long-suffering, and Other. The framing of Russia as a failed/failing state and the United States as a land of prosperity was woven through this book unapologetically. Hell, we got this insight from Gave himself:

I remembered meeting those great players with the Soviet National team in Quebec City for "Rendez-vous 87" -- the two-game all-star series with NHL players. The Russians wore the game sober, unembellished faces as the conscripted Soviet soldier I'd seen at Checkpoint Charlie...I could do some good for... those young hockey players, help change their otherwise miserable lives.

Like... damn, right? Miserable? That seems a bit presumptuous, doesn't it? That attitude was pervasive in the book, from the coaches ("We knew from talking to some people that he had a reputation as being kind of a bad kid. He was always in trouble. We liked hearing that because we figured maybe he wasn't such a good Commie. Maybe he's more like the typical American or Canadian kids, fun-loving and happy-go-lucky." - Coach Polano on Petr Klíma) to the players (""When I first came to play in the NHL, there was more politics in the game. In the first place, it was still the Cold War. When I walk in the dressing room, I can feel there was still some guys that don't like you. Not because you're good or bad as a player, but because you came from Moscow, from the Soviet Union. You could feel it." - Slava Fetisov)... which I can understand. This book was useful in helping reveal how bad the nativism and anti-Russian sentiments run in North American hockey.

My frustrations were more a result of Gave's own framing of the Russian players and their motivations. He completely uncritically gives descriptions of the Soviets turning their players into hockey robots ("Polano knew the Czechs, like the Soviets, seemed to prefer their players to be stoic at all times, showing little emotion. And most of them were, perfecting that sober, dead-eye facial expression that made them hard to read. Not Klima. He wore an ever-present smile, he eyes seeking mischief wherever he went. If he couldn't find any, he'd often create it.") while ignoring how North American hockey has its own psychopathic behaviors ("The truest measure of a player in the NHL, at least according to his peers, is twofold: How does he perform when the stakes are highest, and how much does he sacrifice himself for his teammates by playing through injury and illness?").

While this was a sort of fun narrative challenge for me (spot the McCarthyism!), readers who are themselves more brain-poisoned (like, say, my father, who grew up during the Cold War) or who are less interested in the negative portrayal of Russians in media might not be able to question Gave's storytelling enough. Gave also had a few other shortcomings as a writer; I caught a few typos, and he employed sentence fragments in a way that could become disorienting. Worse, his decision to tell this book out of chronological order was VERY confusing for someone like myself, who is very unfamiliar with Detroit's hockey history. I was often caught off-guard when it was revealed we had jumped forward or back in time.

Now, this isn't to say I didn't enjoy the book: I did. I really liked the first third, with all the defections and the playing at being Cold War spies. In that section specifically, the McCarthyist tint gave has to his writing was fun, because it was just like an old thriller movie, you know? I also appreciated how truly batshit some of the escapes were, and I want to give Gave credit where credit is due: I didn't know the CSKA players were literally conscripted into the team. There absolutely was suppression and totalitarian control over the Russian players. While I think Gave's view became occasionally essentialist about it, I appreciated the real look into how a national hockey team can be a conduit for the oppressive control of Soviet communism.

The middle of the book was a bit boring for me (we lost the human narratives and veered into "and then they won this game and lost this game" for a bit), interest came roaring back with Konstantinov's tragic limo crash. It was an incredibly bittersweet crescendo that was eased, somewhat, by the repeat win. Gave pulled that together well and recaptured my interest in the story.

Overall, this book was a really interesting peek into the world of the Red Wings, our rival who I know embarrassingly little about. What intrigued me is that the Red Wings revealed (by their own admissions) that they were not playing fairly; they would pay off whoever they could, break any rules they could, to get the players they wanted. Russia and the USSR would do the same. They're the same. In the book, of course, the Wings are framed as "just" because the players ostensibly want to play in the NHL, but in terms of tactics, little separated the Americans and Russians. There was, admittedly, something very off-putting about Ilitch's tendency (and, even, his ABILITY) to throw money at a problem until it got fixed. There is corruption everywhere; how it is framed depends on the culture and the person who's holding the pen.

[And, finally: I don't know if Gave knew what he was doing but there were SEVERAL homoerotic moments in this book and I was laughing and saying "DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU JUST WROTE? SIR DID YOU MEAN TO IMPLY THAT?"]

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting to default to 5 stars for this book, since it's about the Red Wings, and particularly the Wings' teams I grew up watching. But 3.5 stars seems more appropriate. Since that includes a 0.5 bonus star for fan loyalty, I feel I have to round down on the official ranking... I found many parts of the book to be interesting (particularly what the Russian players had to do just to leave Russia), but overall it felt very disjointed to read. There was little flow to the overall story--at times it felt like each chapter was a separate newspaper article that had been haphazardly thrown together as a book. The frame of reference jumped around a lot, and many of the stories were repeated throughout the book--it sometimes felt as if the author had forgotten he had already told a particular story. It would have made more sense to organize the book chronologically. Another round of editing would have been appreciated too...

[Beata Fogarasi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story here is incredible, and I loved learning the history and context of the Red Wings franchise and the league in the 80s and 90s. It's an astounding story.

Unfortunately, the book itself is rather poor. Most of it reads like columns copy and pasted from the author's day job at the newspaper, except no one did a second pass to take out repetitive passages or even to lightly edit the last hundred pages. The unbelievable, beyond-Hollywood arc of events kind of falls flat in this treatment. The pacing is off and lack of clarity on temporal progress makes it difficult to read (what season is this? what year? who are we talking about?) - luckily for Gave, his subject matter writes the drama itself and the reader leaves the book happy.

[Connie Faull · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was never a fan of hockey until I saw the Russian Five play. They were a joy to watch - not dump and chase hockey - but almost a ballet on ice while passing a little puck. Anyway, the stories are interesting - the Red Wings actually helped 3 of the players defect from the Soviet Union and then Scotty Bowman traded for the last 2. If you aren't a HUGE fan of hockey you may not like this book. I have to be honest - I skimmed a little in the last 1/4 of the book. But still an interesting read and bit of nostalgia to boot!

[Dave McFadden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun to revisit the team I grew up with. Book was good, but felt like it repeated itself and was written off recycled articles at times. Still enjoyed it though and worth your time if you're a hockey fan.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

So let me start by saying that growing up in Detroit at this time, there was hardly anyone I knew who wasn't at least a casual Wings fan. I used to stay up watching the games, especially during the playoffs, and I still vividly remember moments like Yzerman's blue-line slapper against St. Louis, Fedorov's 5-goal effort, etc. So this book was quite an insightful, behind-the-scenes trip down memory lane. The stories of the defections and events surrounding them are very interesting, and Keith Grave is absolutely the best person to relate them.

Now, looking at the book objectively, through a non-fan's eyes, or someone coming to the story new, it is problematic. The biggest issue for me is the disjointed timeline of the book - even knowing the superficial events by heart, it was a confusing read. I don't understand why the story isn't just laid out linearly - we jump back and forth between events and it makes it hard to keep track of exactly who has defected, when, and when they joined the Wings.

Also, as others have noted, the book seems a bit slapped together (maybe to promote the film, I don't know), and never more so than the jarring repeating of specific events already covered in previous sections. It feels like a series of disparate articles were written, one about each player, and then taped together without an editor giving the full story the once-over for cohesion.

The focus, or lack thereof, on the regular-season performance of the Russian Five... actually, on their gameplay in general was frustrating. Had there been more detail here, then it would definitely have appealed to a broader hockey fanbase outside Hockeytown.

There are also several typos in the hardback edition.

All that being said, the book's coverage of the first Cup win, the tragic aftermath of the crash, and the postscripts on all the players was cohesive and well-executed - with the exception of little follow-up on what became of Sergei Mnatsakanov. I know technically it's beyond the scope of the book, but the bringing in of the "next" Fedorov in Pavel Datysuk could have been mentioned, as well as the fact that a second Swede, Henrik Zetterberg, captained the team to a 4th cup. The book talks about the histories of the Russian Five after the championships, and how they changed the game of hockey, but it would have been a nice epilogue to tie in the changes directly to those witnessed by the club as well.

Overall, a good read for anyone interested in that era and, obviously, the Red Wings, but I should think it is of limited appeal to others.

[Michael O'Leary · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Russian Five: A story of espionage, defection, bribery, and courage is a great read about the five Russian players that enabled the Detroit Red Wings to win three Stanley Cups, unite a team, a city, and the game of hockey. This is a must-read for hockey fans and all Red Wing fans.

From the publisher:
When the Detroit Red Wings were rebooting their franchise after more than two decades of relative futility, they knew the best place to find world-class players who could help turn things around more quickly were conscripted servants behind the Iron Curtain.

All they had to do then was make history by drafting them, then figure out how to get them out. That's when the Wings turned to Keith Gave, the newsman whose clandestine mission to Helsinki, Finland, was the first phase of a of a years-long series of secret meetings from posh hotel rooms to remote forests around Europe to orchestrate their unlawful departures from the Soviet Union.

One defection created an international incident and made global headlines. Another player faked cancer, thanks to the Wings' extravagant bribes to Russian doctors, including a big American car. Another player who wasn't quite ready to leave yet felt like he was being kidnapped by an unscrupulous agent. Two others were outcast when they stood up publicly against the Soviet regime, winning their freedom to play in the NHL only after years of struggle.



This a great read about the Russian Five hockey players


They are the Russian Five: Sergei Fedorov, Viacheslav Fetisov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Vyacheslav Kozlov and Igor Larionov. Their individual stories read like pulse-pounding spy novels. The story that unfolded after they were brought together in Detroit by the masterful coach Scotty Bowman is unforgettable.

This story includes details never before revealed, and by the man who was there every step of the way—from the day Detroit drafted its first two Soviets in 1989 until they raised the Stanley Cup in 1997, then took it to Moscow for a victory lap around Red Square and the Kremlin.

The Russian Five did more to bridge Russian and American relations than decades of diplomacy and detente between the White House and the Kremlin. This is their story.

[Eric Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable and informative read. As others have said, the non-linear writing style was a little frustrating at times, but I can appreciate what Gave was going for (tell each of the Russian 5 members’ individual story, bring it all together for the 96 team and go more or less chronologically from there). I was in middle school when they won the Cup in 97, then the crash, etc so I still remember the roller coaster of emotions well, but it was even more heartbreaking as an adult to learn more of the details of the crash and especially the aftermath and how everybody was impacted. I have a much better understanding now of the significance of the ‘98 Cup which I think meant far more to the players and Vladdy than most fans can realize.

One other thing, again being almost 10 when they won in ‘97 I had no understanding of any of Cold War geopolitics, much less the role they played in hockey. I can appreciate how some felt the book is pro-Russian propaganda or some sort, but to me I thought it was interesting to see and hear a different perspective from an American who has close ties with Russia in multiple previous jobs, someone who is fluent in the language and therefore was able to
build close relationships with most of the book’s primary subject matter.

Not quite a 5 to me, but definitely not a 3, hence the 4 rating.

[Catherine Walbecq · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exceptional book - about hockey, but way more than hockey. It's both a behind the scenes peek and an edge of your seat ride about the lives of 5 Russian players: how they came here and how they changed the face of hockey in America. You'll be reminded of the Cold War, of Perestroika and Glasnost. You'll discover how each player risked life and limb (and those of their family's) for a chance to play in the NHL. This book is expertly written by the only person with first hand knowledge of these events. With his background as a Russian linguist, and experience as a journalist with one of Detroit's largest newspaper's, covering its local hockey team, Keith Gave was sought out by the head of the Detroit Red Wing's franchise to present the team's offer to assist in each player's defection from Russia. The details within the individual stories of each one of the magnificent Russian Five is nothing short of astounding. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll shake your head at the amount of money team owners toss around like it was nothing, and you'll come to love every one of these players for their individual skills, their courage, their heart, but most of all, for their humanity. As I said, this is so much more than just a hockey story. It's a must read!

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so good! I learned a ton that I didn't know about the history of my beloved Wings, and more about hockey as a whole. A lot of the processes of getting the players over from the USSR were downright fascinating. Gave did a good job at bringing to life all the characters in the story, from Devellano to Yzerman to the members of the Russian Five. And the post-1997 Stanley Cup events are shocking (I had only a vague notion that something had happened), emotional, and very affecting. I shed a few tears reading, which is more than I expected from a sports book!
The structure of the book was kind of unusual, though. It basically read like a series of articles, with chapters sometimes going back to mention events that had happened years earlier or would happen years later, or even just re-stating things the book had already covered. This approach makes sense given Gave's background, but I'm guessing a more large-scale publisher would have made the narrative a little more cohesive. Still, it made the book pretty breezy, which is always a good thing for me when I'm reading non-fiction.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all the story is amazing. While the writing could at times be repetitive and the timelines overlapped, I feel this was a result of chapter written like news stories stemming from Gave’s past career.

But for me, personally, this book was magic. I became a hockey fan, specifically a Red Wings fan, during the early 90’s. The was a magic to the lead up to and eventual back to back cups of the late 90’s. A magic that is difficult to explain or put into words. A magic that fans at the time felt, but didn’t readily understand. This book captures that and brings to light much of the unseen backstory to help explain that magic.
In a way, reading this book was like reading the epitaph of a dear friend. The magic has evaporated, times have changed. I love the Wings, but I don’t know if we will ever see an era like the seasons described in the book, ever again.
Gave simply captures the raw investment the fans had, and gives a peek behind the scenes. For this faint reminder of the emotions of that time, I thank him.

[Shanda Kersten · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author brings back memories of what it was like to hear about defections from eastern bloc countries to promising lives in the U.S. on the news. When I was growing up in the early 80's, there was always a story of daring escapes of dancers, athletes, scientists, and others on the news. They always included the fact that these people could never go home again. Keith Gave was in the midst of the intrigue of Detroit getting these hockey players to the country to play for the Red Wings. He combines reporting with storytelling and friendly aside updates as only someone in the middle could. He gives such a good look into the secrecy of the former USSR, and the excitement young Russian players must have felt but mostly couldn't express. The building of the Detroit team from a mess of Slap Shot level, to a Stanley Cup winning team, covers a lot of ground. This is a great read for any sports lover, but especially hockey fans. And that's coming from a mass Red Wing rival fan of the Avalanche.

[Noah Hare · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keith Gave
The Russian Five: A Story of Espionage, Defection, Bribery and Courage

This could've had a better score I wish I could've gave it 4 star. However there are too many chapters that repeat what the previous chapter discussed, this made me put down the book for a week every so often. Nevertheless this book is still good, this book gives readers new insight on the lives of some of the most important figures in the beautiful game of hockey. The Russian Five were some of the most enjoyable players to watch, Keith Gave does a great job of expressing this through words. I would recommend this book but only if you're interested in hockey, this book is a bit tedious but I'm still glad I read it.