PHOTO COURTESY HOCKEY CANADA
Medicine Hat Tigers' forward Gavin McKenna represented Canada at the U17 Hockey Challenge in early November at P.E.I.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Gavin McKenna got a taste of representing Canada and is ready for more.
The Medicine Hat Tigers forward has returned from playing for Team Canada at the U17 Hockey Challenge in P.E.I. earlier this month. McKenna and Team Canada Red finished fifth in the tournament, with Canada’s Team White winning gold.
McKenna says it’s an experience he will never forget.
“Any time you get to put on the Canada flag, it’s pretty awesome,” McKenna said. “It was a great experience going out East there, meeting some new guys and making some new friendships. I’ll remember that tournament for a lifetime.”
The 15-year-old Whitehorse product had five goals and eight points in seven games for Team Canada Red, including a game-winning goal over Team U.S.A. in their final preliminary matchup. But the first time he put on the Canada jersey and saw McKenna on his back was the real moment of the tournament for himself.
“I’ve grown up wearing the Canada flag and watching the World Juniors and the Olympics, so to wear that jersey, it’s unreal,” McKenna said. “Hopefully I get to wear it a couple of times more because it was an awesome feeling.”
The U17s weren’t his first time playing a tournament at P.E.I., as McKenna represented Team Yukon at the Canada Winter Games in February. He liked the large potatoes they have in P.E.I. and getting to see the province for a second time.
During the tournament, Hockey Canada showcased a video documenting McKenna’s journey to the U17s, starting with his local rink and playing minor hockey in Whitehorse, to joining the Tigers and the start to his WHL career. They had some of his former coaches, his family and head coach Willie Desjardins speak about his young career.
“It was super cool to see my family, my old coaches and just to get that video of my old rink, I grew up playing there,” McKenna said. “It was pretty awesome to see that and then just the videos of Whitehorse and Willie, he said some kind words about me, so I felt pretty good.”
McKenna had laryngitis when his interviews were filmed, leading him to sound a little more hoarse than his usual tone of voice.
He returned to the Medicine Hat lineup Tuesday night at Swift Current in the Tigers’ 6-3 loss against the Broncos, scoring his eighth goal of the season. He says it took a couple of shifts to get back into the Tigers’ structure.
“I didn’t get a practice in, so just hopped right into the game, but it was good, it felt good to be back with the guys and being full time with them again,” he said. “It’s going to be fun and then being with new line mates, I thought it was really good. Obviously, it wasn’t the result we wanted, that’s not one of our best games, but we almost had it so it shows a lot about our team.”
McKenna played alongside Oasiz Wiesblatt and Hayden Harsanyi, who has risen through the Tigers’ lines due to injury and has continued to find success. McKenna says Harsanyi, who had the primary assist on his goal, has turned it up as of late and is looking forward to more ice time together.
“He’s a really good player, we’re good buddies off the ice, so it’s good being on a line with him,” McKenna said. “The play he made to me last night just shows he’s got the talent, he makes plays like that all the time. He’s a really good player.”
While it took McKenna a couple of shifts to get used to the game, it may have taken Tigers fans tuning into the game or in attendance at Swift Current at least as long to find the rookie. McKenna was wearing No. 36 with no name bar until his usual 72 was delivered form Medicine Hat by a team trainer. McKenna says his jersey was forgotten but was happy once he got the usual threads back mid-period.
“Everyone had their jerseys in their stall and then I see mine and Mikey, he ripped up and got it to me, I think I played a couple of shifts in 36,” McKenna said. “It felt a little weird for sure.”
Whenever that next experience in a Canada jersey comes for McKenna, he says he’s looking forward to the grind of a short tournament and the pressures that creates.
“We played seven games in nine days, so it was a grind and you have to recover, make sure you’re doing all the little things,” McKenna said. “With how short the tournament is, just clicking with your line mates, finding a rhythm, it’s huge. Just leaving it all out there.
“Looking back, you don’t want to say you had more, you want to just leave it all out there when you have the chance.”
