PHOTO COURTESY KATHERINE DRAKE CANADA WINTER GAMES
Medicine Hat Tigers prospect and South Alberta Hockey Academy forward Gavin McKenna carried the Yukon flag during opening ceremonies on Feb. 18 at the Canada Winter Games.
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For the first and likely not the last time in his career, Gavin McKenna was the talk of hockey in Canada.
The 15-year-old was the star of the men’s U16 hockey at the Canada Winter Games in P.E.I, leading Team Yukon into the qualifying round in record-breaking fashion. McKenna’s six-game scoring total of 14 goals and 29 points broke the Games’ record of 27 points in one tournament, held previously by New Brunswick’s Kelsey Tessier in 2007 and Quebec’s Francois Methot in 1995.
“It was an unbelievable experience,” McKenna said. “Getting to see all of my old buddies and finally play with them one last time, it was unbelievable. Seeing Yukon get three wins, they’ve never had one, so to come up with three wins and make it out of our pool, it’s pretty unbelievable.”
He not only served as Yukon’s captain on the ice, he led the territory into the Games as its flag bearer for the opening ceremonies.
McKenna didn’t expect to break the scoring record but joked that he knew he would get a couple points in the tournament.
“It was an amazing feeling when I did break that record, I had so much support after that coming from text messages and just the P.E.I. people, too, they all treated me great,” McKenna said.
His linemate Jase Johnstone was second in tournament scoring, putting up eight goals and 17 points. McKenna says he was happy the two of them could share the top-two in scoring and top-21 with Yukon defenders Nash Holmes and Chayce Tuton. It was also the last time McKenna will represent his home territory and play with his friends from Yukon.
“I grew up playing with a few of those guys, so to see how far they’ve come as players and people, it was pretty cool,” McKenna said. “They were obviously a great team, good goaltending and we just played hard all throughout the tournament.”
Team Yukon opened the Games with three straight wins, beating Nunavut 11-6, North West Territories 9-2 and the host P.E.I. 5-3. They lost their final preliminary game 8-2 against Newfoundland. The three wins pushed them through the preliminary round for the first time in Canada Games history. Team Yukon lost their qualification game for the medal round against New Brunswick 13-3 before wrapping the tournament up with a 7-3 loss against Newfoundland.
The attention at the Winter Games gave the young star a preview of what’s to come as he was part of a press conference after breaking the record and was in demand for autographs, photos and podcasts. It’s something he enjoyed, in large part due to how nice the people of P.E.I. were.
“All these people were coming up to me and they were all super polite,” McKenna said. “It was something I haven’t fully experienced before. So to get a taste of what it’s like, it was definitely cool.”
It was the first time the Whitehorse product had been on The Island, with that experience away from the rink almost surpassing his achievements on the ice for the Medicine Hat Tigers prospect.
“It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced. It’s definitely a tournament I’ll remember, getting to meet all these new people from new places. The pin trading, clothing trading, it was an unreal experience for sure.”
