Keith Gave spent six years in the United States Army as a Russian linguist working for the National Security Agency during the Cold War. As unlikely as it seems, nothing could have better prepared this intelligence officer for a career as a sports writer covering hockey for the Detroit Free Press.  While working as a reporter, Gave continued to lead a clandestine life. In 1989, he flew to Helsinki, Finland, the audacious first step in orchestrating the defection of five Russian hockey players from behind the Iron Curtain.  The individual stories of the Russian Five read like pulse-pounding spy novels, and the story that unfolds after they were brought together by the masterful Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman is truly unforgettable.  Bestselling author Mitch Albom says that Gave was “…an envoy, Russian-speaker and secret-keeper. No one could write this story with the detail, depth and understanding that Gave delivers.”  Gave also wrote and produced an award-winning documentary film, shown at festivals in Detroit, Seattle and Traverse City.   Gave spent 40 years in the news industry with stops at The Associated Press, the Dallas Morning News, where he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and the Detroit Free Press. He now lives in Roscommon, Michigan.

Guest Host: Tim Rappleye. Rappleye worked for 25 years for sports TV networks, reporting on every major hockey event imaginable. Along the way, he covered five Olympic Winter Games and garnered two Emmy Awards. He also helped produce Hockeytown, an NHL documentary about the championship season of the Russian Five. He is author of Jack Parker’s Wiseguys and Hobey Baker: Upon Further Review. Based in Traverse City, he covers NCAA hockey for FLO Sports and refs youth hockey