A picture is worth a thousand words, or in Connor McDavid‘s case, more than 12,000 likes on Twitter.
After a photo of the NHL MVP sandwiched between two touchy fans went viral last month, McDavid, 20, cleared up how the situation played out.
“I was walking into the security line, and I had actually walked past them,” McDavid said during a recent appearance on the “Puck Soup podcast, via Sports Illustrated. “And they they say, ‘Hey, Connor, can we get a picture?’ And I say, ‘Sure.’ And sure enough they come up to me and start hugging me. Both of them. Both of them were hugging me.”
McDavid revealed the close encounter, between the touching and awkward posing, took all of seven seconds.
“And sure enough there was someone who had their phone ready to take a picture. They had already turned around and were ready for the picture and took the picture before I had even realized what was going on. The whole thing lasted seven seconds and then I was out of there,” McDavid said.
The picture was taken the day before McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers fell to the Anaheim Ducks in Game 7 of the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. McDavid was later awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s most valuable player after a spectacular sophomore season in which he tallied 30 goals and 70 assists.