Connor McDavid says a rival player intentionally injured him.

National Hockey League superstar Connor McDavid has called out a rival player in a huge way.

McDavid went out of his way to defend the player that injured him last season, Philadelphia Flyers' defenseman Brandon Manning, despite the fact that many at the time had felt that Manning intended to injure McDavid on the play. NHL legend Don Cherry had this to say at the time:

“Connor was hurt on purpose. I’m telling you they meant to drive him into the boards,” Cherry said as per Sportsnet. “They should’ve let up a little. You’ll see as he’s going down they give him a little shot. He doesn’t have a chance.”

McDavid was signing a very different tune after Thursday night's match up against the Flyers' however, claiming that Manning bragged about intentionally injuring him last season, effectively confessing his guilt to McDavid on the ice.

"You know what, I did all I could defending him last year in the media," McDavid said. "Everyone wanted to make a big deal saying he did it on purpose. And he wanted to say some comments today about what went on last year and I thought it was one of the most classless things I’ve ever seen on the ice.

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"He said some things and our guys responded accordingly. And I guess we can put the whole if he did it on purpose thing to rest because what he said out there kinda confirmed that. Shows what kind of guy he is when he doesn’t step up and fight some of our guys."

Of course it has to be said that this could have merely been gamesmanship on the part of Manning as he tried to get into the head of a much better player to gain a competitive advantage. Despite that however McDavid is not usually an emotional player, nor is he prone to overeating in the media in such a fashion, making the fact that he's now calling out Manning carry much more weight.