Keith Gave – författare

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.

Picking up where the international best-selling book The Russian Five left off, Vlad the Impaler will have readers alternately laughing—and in tears—with dozens more memorable, untold stories and anecdotes from the Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup championship season in 1997, 25 years ago. The book includes a foreword by Hall of Fame defenseman Slava Fetisov, along with lengthy excerpts from interviews of several members of that team, from captain Steve Yzerman, teammates Brendan Shanahan, Nicklas Lidstrom, Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov, Slava Kozlov, and coach Scotty Bowman, among many others. A portion of the proceeds from the book will be earmarked for the Vladimir Konstantinov Special Needs Trust to help ensure the care he needs after suffering catastrophic injuries just a week after he helped the Wings win their first Stanley Cup title in 42 years. #Believe