Kovalchuk goes to Middle East

 From a numerous interviews and Q&As we have already heard, several names were coming out from Ovie and others, here's the whole story...

Capitals Insider by Slava Malamud, Jan. 25, 2009:

Well, one thing you should probably know is who was behind the truce. It was none other than Ilya Kovalchuk, the noble southern gentleman and the upright family man that he is.



Ilya Kovalchuk with his wife Nicole Ambrazaitis (yes she is Lithuanian like Zubrus and Kasparaitis) and daughter Carolina Sofia (Courtesy golden-news)


Friday night, during the dinner with other fellow All Stars, Kovalchuk got the two of them together and proposed to finalize the peace talks (which began earlier that day with the handshaking incident) and make it all official. "He poured it for us",



said Malkin after the Super Skills last night, talking about a Russian peacemaking ritual, the deep-hidden essence of which you can easily guess.

"Yes, he poured us some water," added Ovechkin, just to clarify the deep-hidden essence of the Russian peacemaking ritual for those of us that are slower on the uptake.

Of course, it was also Kovalchuk's idea to let Malkin dress Alex (and give him a squirt of Gatorade) during the final Breakaway Challenge. Alex wanted to take the props out himself, but Ilya convinced him to use Malkin, thus putting the final touch on his peacemaking efforts. Between his gold-medal goal at the World Championships last year and his mediation of the Ovie-Malkin dispute with the Olympics looming ahead, Kovy is on the fast track to becoming Russia's favorite son right about now.

And speaking of unsung heroes, some kudos are due to the Caps' PR manager Nate Ewell and especially Konstantin Selinevich, Alex's business manager who has really proven he can manage business with the best of them. It was them who came up with the hat-and-glasses idea and it was Selinevich who went shopping for the props Saturday morning. He couldn't find a Russian flag to affix to the headwear but otherwise the plan worked to perfection.

At first I thought Slava brokered a peace and passed a rumor about Slava's next assignment to Middle East to negotiate peace between Israel and Palestinians. Turned out Ilya Kovalchuk is a Russian version of Henry Kissinger. :-)

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