Medicine Hat Tigers forward Gavin McKenna celebrates his first of two goals in a 5-1 win at Co-op Place on Nov. 15 over the Victoria Royals. The young phenom who is expected to go first overall in the 2026 NHL Draft, has committed to Penn State University for the 2025-26 season.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Gavin McKenna will be playing NCAA hockey next season.
The consensus first overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft announced Tuesday afternoon on ESPN’s Sportscenter that he will be leaving the Western Hockey League for the NCAA and Penn State University.
“It was a super tough decision, there’s a lot of great options out there, but I think me, my family and everyone that is part of my circle, we all decided the best spot for me next year will be Penn State University,” McKenna said on ESPN’s Sports Center on Tuesday.
“Penn State is a great spot for me, I got to get a taste of what it’s like there and got to bring along my dad and we both thought it was a great spot for me.”
His departure is the largest domino to fall following the change of the NCAA’s eligibility rules last November. The NCAA Div. I Council voted to lift the previous restriction that barred CHL players from playing college hockey due to its amateur status rules, and will allow those playing major junior hockey to make the switch to U.S. college hockey as of Aug. 1. McKenna will join Tri-City Americans defenceman Jackson Smith, who committed to Penn State on June 15.
McKenna is the third player the Tigers have lost to the NCAA rule change, with forwards Cayden Lindstrom (Michigan State University) and Ryder Ritchie (Boston University) previously committing to schools. They’re hard losses, Tigers head coach Willie Desjardins says, but subtractions they’ll look to bounce back from.
“Any player we’ve lost it’s hard to lose them, we honestly had built a team that I thought had a really good chance of winning the Cup this year,” Desjardins said. “Saying that we’re going to have to find a way to do it. We’re not going to be satisfied with being average, we’re going to have to find a way to be a good team again with our back end, I think we can do that.
“But with Gavin, you can never take a guy like that out of your lineup and have it not be a big loss. You can say whatever you want, it’s a huge loss.”
The 17-year-old Whitehorse, Yuk. product played three seasons in Medicine Hat, totalling 79 goals and 244 points in 133 games. He had another 12 goals and 45 points in 25 playoff games, with nine goals and 38 points coming this past postseason as the Tigers captured a sixth Ed Chynoweth Cup, beating the Spokane Chiefs in the WHL Championship series.
McKenna was named the WHL and CHL rookie of the year in 2024 and was crowned the player of the year in both the WHL and CHL in 2025. He is the third youngest CHLer to be named player of the year, only Sidney Crosby and John Tavares were younger. He leaves the Tigers 29th all-time in points and 19th in assists. He had a 54-game point streak last season, setting a new modern CHL record for points in consecutive games.
McKenna toured Penn State and Michigan State last week ahead of Tuesday’s announcement. Desjardins says they had three years to showcase their program to McKenna and did that, with three consecutive playoff appearances capped off with an Ed Chynoweth Cup and an appearance in the finals of the Memorial Cup.
“History is really important, what you’ve shown over three years, that’s who you are. You can show whoever you want in a week you can do whatever you want, but a three-year window shows who you are,” Desjardins said. “Gavin is a heck of a player, Medicine Hat was good for him, like really good for him, he developed here and we’re proud of that. But we had our chance, we had three years so that was our chance.”
On ESPN’s announcement, halfway through the Sportscenter segment after hits on the Dallas Cowboys, College football and the MLB slate, McKenna laid out why he decided to leave the WHL. He believes it will prepare him better for the NHL.
“It honestly just makes the jump easier going against older, heavier, stronger guys, it really prepares you and even in the locker room hanging around older guys and being around more mature guys, that’ll help me a lot in my first (NHL) season,” McKenna said. “The Dub it was a great spot and I’m very grateful for what it did for me and my family. So I think both options are great, but I just think that going to college and being in such a great conference, it’ll really challenge me and prepare me.”
The Tigers and Kelowna Rockets will meet in Whitehorse, Yuk. for a preseason showcase scheduled for Sept. 11-14 with two preseason games been held as part of the festivities.
