Not hockey-related, but...

Winston Churchill died 48 years ago today, which wouldn't be worthy of a post at the Blueland Chronicle (January 24th passes by once a year, every year, I think) except for this exquisite photo gallery in his honor at Slate. Take the time to look at it; the photos of his funeral are unreal.

There are obvious parallels between Winston Churchill and Ilya Kovalchuk, as I'm sure you all recognize. Our future captain is out for tonight's game because he was too belligerent in the last game; sound familiar? Churchill was a fiery presence in Parliament and in the British press for most of his career; when he became too violent in his opinions and rhetoric he was thrown out of the game, so to speak. He came back later, of course, and used his nearly-superhuman gifts to save the world. In the same way, Kovalchuk's fire and belligerence has gotten him into trouble, and for now he's "the Lion in Winter" (title of the volume of a Churchill biography that covers his outcast years; it comes from a line in Shakespeare). I'm sure that when he returns to the ice his superhuman gifts will save the Thrashers from a losing record and raise us phoenix-like to playoff glory.