McKenna 'excited' about firsts at Penn State, second chance at WJC
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Gavin McKenna made waves when he announced earlier in July that he was leaving the CHL's Medicine Hat Tigers to play for the Penn State Nittany Lions in NCAA next season.
The presumptive No. 1 pick in next year's NHL Draft had 41 goals and 88 assists in 56 regular-season games for the Tigers last season at the age of 17.
He joins the Nittany Lions after helping Medicine Hat win its first WHL title since 2007 and reach the Memorial Cup final.
McKenna says he's excited for the new challenges that college hockey can provide.
“There’s a lot of things to be excited about next season,” McKenna said to The Athletic's Scott Wheeler. “Heading to college, playing my first game. That’ll be pretty amazing."
McKenna's 129 points in 59 games in the WHL a season ago were 30 more than three-time Hart Trophy winner Connor McDavid scored at the same age playing in the OHL.
His performance at the World Juniors for Canada left a lot to be desired, given his reputation playing in junior hockey. He scored just one goal in five games before Canada was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Czechia.
"And then with the World Juniors, last year wasn’t the best way to go out, and I know a lot of us will have a big chip on our shoulders this year, and that’s going to be exciting," McKenna said.
As for Penn State, the Nittany Lions have only played in Division 1 in NCAA men's hockey since 2011, and the program qualified for its first Frozen Four appearance at last year's tournament, where they fell to Boston University in the semifinals.
McKenna felt a connection to the team, formed by the excitement around the up-and-coming program.
“From the start of this whole entire process, I got the feeling that it was going to be Penn State that I was going to go to,” McKenna said. “And then once I toured the area and I got to see the facilities and meet some of the people there and some of the guys, it was just a place that I knew right away I could call home and then on top of that they have a great team and they have a chance of winning it, and obviously that’s the goal next year.”