Grab your passports and sharpen your skates, comrades—because on the latest episode of Cinematic Underdogs, we’re defecting straight into one of the most Cold War-tastic sports docs ever made: The Russian Five! That’s right—we’re back and chatting about the real-life Red Dawn that hit the NHL when the Detroit Red Wings recruited five elite Soviet hockey players straight outta the Iron Curtain. The doc is like The Mighty Ducks forechecking Mission: Impossible—only with more missing teeth, thick Russian accents, and KGB henchmanlurking in the shadows. It isn’t just about hockey—tapping into Cold War drama, personal sacrifice, and stylistic revolution, all on skates.

Sergei Fedorov. Slava Fetisov. Vladimir Konstantinov. SlavaKozlov. Igor Larionov. This legendary group of Soviet-born ice-skating assassins redefined line chemistry and international talent acquisition with slap shots sharp enough to slice throughsteel and accents thick enough to confuse Canadian customs. They brought a USSR-informed brand of hockey to the NHL (emphasizing puck possession, short passes, constant motion, & a deep understanding of spatial awareness) and quickly revolutionized the NHL in the 90’s with a fast, fluid, cerebralstyle of play, ending Detroit’s 42-year Stanley Cup drought with a championship in 1997—and again in 1998 (albeit without Konstantinov, who was paralyzed in a tragic limo accident just days after they hoisted the cup in '97).

In the episode, we slice through everything: top-secretphone calls, high-stakes defections, shadowy figures in trench coats, and yes—the heartbreaking limo accident that nearly shattered the dream team and wore heavily on the players’ hearts as they repeated their championship run. From behind-the-scenes espionage to Stanley Cup glory, The Russian Five is so wild you’ll think it was ghostwritten by Tom Clancy and coached by Gordon Bombay. So lace up, comrades—because this week, we’re dropping the puck on The Russian Five.

 Let’s get Red-y to rumble!