from Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star,
Went to see The Russian Five on Wednesday night, an excellent documentary about how the acquisition of five Russian players transformed the Detroit Red Wings into Stanley Cup champions....
The brilliance was of course in Scotty Bowman, the NHL’s winningest coach, in deciding to use the five as a unit, letting them play Russian-style hockey – no dumping and chasing – just continual puck control and puck movement on top of puck retrieval and a commitment to defence....
The irony was lost on no one in the audience that Bowman praised Detroit’s acquisition of Shanahan in 1996 as the missing piece that put the Wings over the top.