The hype surrounding Gavin McKenna has been around for years. And while one might expect it to affect him, he has taken it all in stride. With the added pressure for Team Canada this year, McKenna will use all he’s learned to be a go-to player for his team
For a Canadian teenager, there is no bigger stage than the World Junior Championship. And while Gavin McKenna has already experienced the mania thanks to last year’s tournament in Ottawa, his place in the hockey world is now even further elevated – and the pressure in Minnesota will be intense.
Luckily for McKenna, he’s been under the microscope for months already. His move from the WHL to Penn State was a major coup for NCAA hockey, and the brilliant left winger’s debut against Arizona State was so hyped up that the NHL Network ended up carrying the two-game series, as did YouTube. In the end, McKenna’s Nittany Lions beat the Sun Devils twice, with the freshman tallying two primary assists in the first game and the game-winning goal one day later.
“Honestly, he’s the chillest dude,” said Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky. “He’s so comfortable. Everything he does with the puck has a purpose, and he’s able to manipulate time and space so well. He’s always dictating. It doesn’t look like he’s reacting. He creates space when there is none, and he doesn’t need to use space when there is space. He sees the game in a very unique way.”
We’ve known for a couple of years already that McKenna was the No. 1 prospect for the 2026 NHL draft, and that title holds to this day. But despite the high expectations, he’s using his past international experience to help him navigate the spotlight and the older, stronger competition he now faces in college.
“There’s not a lot of time and space out there,” McKenna said. “It’s quicker. There’s not a whole lot different. You’re playing with and against good players, and I’ve played against good players in my life at the world juniors and stuff. And that kind of prepared me for this.”
It was also something he asked for. Last season, McKenna was named the CHL’s player of the year after running roughshod over the competition, posting 129 points in 56 games with WHL Medicine Hat and adding 38 more in 16 playoff games. Who knows how many points he would’ve tallied in junior this season.
“I could have stayed in the ‘Dub’ and taken the easy route,” McKenna said. “But I wanted to challenge myself this year in the NCAA and hopefully prepare myself for next year and potentially playing in the NHL.”
One player who knows what that’s like is Colorado Avalanche superstar Cale Makar, who made the jump from Alberta Jr. A to the NCAA, where he was a standout with the University of Massachusetts. The fellow Western Canadian – McKenna is famously from the Yukon – can not only relate to McKenna, but he’s also familiar with him.
“I was actually fortunate to train at the same spot as him in Calgary this summer,” Makar said. “I got to know him a little bit, and he seems like a great kid. I’m excited. He’s still growing, and I think he’ll really bulk up in college. That’ll help his game a lot.”
McKenna certainly wasn’t shy during his opening series against Arizona State. Playing in front of a sold-out crowd at Mullett Arena, McKenna immediately drew the attention of the Sun Devils’ student section. He was booed every time he touched the puck (which, given his skill set, was often) and taunted with chants of “Over-rated (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap).” Not one to back down, McKenna got his revenge on the scoreboard and then added a little salt to the wound. After his game-winning goal in the second game, he celebrated by taking off his glove and inverting the three-fingered ‘Forks Up’ Arizona State hand sign to make his own ‘Forks Down’ gesture.
Once the final buzzer sounded, he and his teammates mobbed winning goalie Kevin Reidler, whose crease was in front of the student section. After hearing from them all weekend, McKenna went over and playfully tapped the glass in front of the Sun Devils’ faithful before leaving the ice.
Which is a long way to say that McKenna is clearly not going to shrink on big stages.
At last year’s world juniors, he actually scored Canada’s first goal of the tournament, assisted by Matthew Schaefer, in a 4-0 win over Finland. But fate is cruel, and when Schaefer went down with a broken collarbone in the next game against Latvia, Canada fell apart. That goal would be the only point of McKenna’s tournament, and the Canadians lost a quarterfinal heartbreaker in the last seconds to their new rivals from Czechia.
Expectations for this year’s world juniors in Minnesota will be much higher for both McKenna and the team. McKenna’s Dec. 20 birthday meant that he had just turned 17 when the tourney began last year, and especially for Hockey Canada, the WJC has always been seen as a 19-year-old’s tournament. Having said that, a phenom such as McKenna will be counted on for a lot more offense this time around. It will also be interesting to see how much of a leadership role he has on the team, as he has already ingratiated himself with the group at Penn State.
“Gavin is really good for our team in that way, and you don’t often say that about freshmen,” Gadowsky said. “But he’s a calming influence. There’s a lot of noise, and emotions run a bit higher because of the hype around him, but he’s able to take everything in stride, and that’s really good for our team.”
Even with all the fanfare at Penn State this year, the attention will be next level at the WJC, as both die-hard and casual Canadian hockey fans will be glued to their screens, cheering on the squad. McKenna’s mission will be to ride that wave, and he has a pretty good philosophy on the matter. “When you’re out there, it’s quiet,” he said. “You’re just playing the game you love. Away from the rink, there’s pressure, but staying off social media helps.”
AWAY FROM THE RINK, THERE’S PRESSURE,BUT STAYING OFF SOCIAL MEDIA HELPS– GAVIN McKENNA-
Sometimes, staying off social media isn’t enough these days. “I don’t think you guys see how much outside noise there is,” said Penn State teammate Charlie Cerrato. “We’ve got people coming to the hotel after the bus and after dinner. It’s crazy how he’s handling it at 17. It’s incredible.”
And it’s only going to get noisier as the season progresses. Through his first 12 games in college, McKenna posted a robust 14 points. More importantly, his Nittany Lions were 9-3-0 and ranked fifth in the country. At the WJC, his Canadian squad will be one of the favorites, and after crashing out in the quarterfinal two years in a row, redemption will be the first order of business. McKenna certainly won’t be the only weapon at Canada’s disposal, but his ability to perform at a high level under pressure is already becoming known this season.
If Team Canada can use McKenna and his teammates the right way, there’s no reason to doubt the squad as a gold-medal threat. And if McKenna is on the prowl, the other teams in the tournament will have to be on their toes.
“He’s special, you can tell,” said Arizona State coach Greg Powers. “If he touches the puck in the O- zone, you hold your breath.”
This is an excerpt of a feature that appeared in The Hockey News' World Junior Championship issue. We provide scouting reports of the teams and players who will compete in the tournament, and a touch of holiday-themed content.
Elsewhere in the issue, we take a look at 2026 UFAs, and features on the PWHL, AHL, ECHL, NCAA and more.
You can get it in print for free when you subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/Free today. All subscriptions include complete access to more than 76 years of articles at The Hockey News Archive.