Kovalchuk Brokers Ovechkin-Malkin PeaceYet another insightful contribution from Slava Malamud of Sport-Express:
You have to admit it, you are loving all the showmanship the Russian delegation is putting on. From The Handshake to The Gatorade Squirt, the Ovechkin-Malkin kiss-and-make-up melodrama is easily the top story of the All Star weekend. 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.
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
icial. "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
to affix to the headwear but otherwise the plan worked to perfection.
As for Kovalev's dismissal of Alex's antics by saying that he won a fashion show, not a skills contest, Ovechkin smiled and replied: "Of course! I love fashion!"