Lord Stanley in Russia

DETROIT: Sergei Federov. Vladimir Konstantinov. Fetisov, Kozlov, Larionov. The stars of the Detroit Red Wings' 1997 Stanley Cup team were more than an example of the NHL's decidedly foreign flavor. They were the Red Army. So it is fitting that this summer, Lord Stanley's Cup will make its first trip to the former Soviet Union. The cup will be in Russia from Aug. 16-19. Fetisov, Kozlov and Larionov plan to parade the Cup through the streets of Moscow and then put it on display in Red Square. The announcement comes on the same day that Konstantinov, the star defenseman injured in a June 13 limousine accident, emerged from his coma to what doctors described as a state of semi-consciousness. "He's more alert, but he's not fully conscious yet," said Dr. Karol Zakalik a neurosurgeon at Beaumont Hospital in Michigan. Perhaps Konstantinov, who played seven seasons with the Soviet Central Red Army Team, will derive some inspiration when the trophy on which his name is now inscribed pays a visit to his homeland.