Connor-icles: McDavid TV interview after Oshawa championship win rankles fans

To the victor goes spoils usually dictates coverage choices after a championship-game win, but then again, Connor McDavid is is exceptional.

When the Oshawa Generals beat the Erie Otters and McDavid 6-2 on Friday to win the best-of-7 Ontario Hockey League final 4-1, Sportsnet had to decide quickly how to juggle giving the Generals their due while acknowledging the end of McDavid's generational three-year tenure in junior hockey. On-ice reporter Rob Faulds had brief on-ice interviews with two big Oshawa cogs, Cole Cassels and goalie Ken Appleby, but after a segment from the studio, Faulds conducted an interview with the 18-year-old McDavid, who will soon be the first overall pick by the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL draft.

Needless to say, the decision to devote time to the captain of the runners-up irked some junior hockey fans who have been doused in McDavid mania across the past three seasons (much it from this corner, guilty as charged).

It is understandable that people had that reaction. It went against the convention, but also hit on the fault line in how junior hockey is covered: focusing on the one percenters and the NHL draft instead of the teams that have meaningful regular seasons and playoffs.

In terms of spot news coverage, though, it was the nearly certain final OHL game of a player who gets mentioned in the same breath with Wayne Gretzky and who was so far past his peer group that McDavid having seven points during the five-game final qualified as shutting him down. Based on that, it was the correct call, especially with a tight window before going to a Boston Red Sox-Seattle Mariners telecast on Sportsnet One and the highly viewed WWE Smackdown on Sportsnet 360.

McDavid had 169 points in 67 regular-season and playoff games for the Otters, or more than 2.5 per game. That included 49 in the playoffs, the third-highest total in league history. He had at least one point in all but four games, getting shut out twice in the regular season by the Niagara IceDogs before being blanked in games 2 and 5 of the final by the Generals. The Newmarket, Ont., also became just the second player from a runner-up to win the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as OHL playoff MVP.

Based on those rare circumstances, it was the right call.

"Once draft day happens, that's where the real work starts," McDavid told Sportsnet. "It's up to me to decide what happens.

"Erie will be my second home for a long time," McDavid added. "Whether I'm back next year or not, it doesn't matter, it's been the greatest experience of my life."

Interestingly enough, McDavid's adviser Bobby Orr played his final game for the Oshawa Generals in 1966 against the Edmonton Oil Kings. McDavid played his final junior game in Oshawa before joining Edmonton.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.