NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Gavin McKenna looks for a pass beside the net in the first period of a 3-2, shootout win over the Calgary Hitmen on Jan. 18 at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
WHL fans in the United States get their first look at the Gavin McKenna show.
The Medicine Hat Tigers’ U.S. road trip kicked off Friday at Spokane against the Chiefs before heading to Tri-City to face the Americans on Saturday.
The following four stops, facing the Wenatchee Wild on Tuesday, Everett Silvertips on Wednesday, Portland Winterhawks on Jan. 31 and Seattle Thunderbirds on Feb. 1. give fans of the U.S. division their first, and potentially only viewing of the 17-yer-old star.
Barring a finals matchup between the Tigers and any of the U.S. teams, with McKenna the projected first overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, this is the lone regular season showcase he’ll have Stateside in the orange and black.
“I’m pumped, it’s always fun to play some new teams you don’t play too often,” McKenna said about the trip. “They play a different kind of style over there, we know they’re all good teams, so we want to keep the streak going because we know it’s going to be a battle there.”
The Tigers enter play Friday with a seven-game win streak, the longest since 2019-20, and are set to face some of the top teams in the West.
The Silvertips sit atop the WHL and all but Wenatchee and Seattle are in a playoff spot. McKenna says the trip can provide a measuring stick for them against the best in the West.
“If you make the finals you want to be confident going into the games, so knowing you can beat the teams, that helps a lot for sure,” McKenna said. “Every single point is big now going into the second half of the year. Our conference is so tight with Lethbridge, Calgary and even Edmonton, so we have to make sure every single game we’re dialled in.”
The Whitehorse, Yuk. product has been more than dialled in since returning from the World Juniors. Following Friday’s 3-2 win over the Chiefs, he rides a 21-game point streak that started on Nov. 6, the longest active streak in the WHL and the longest a Tiger has had in the internet era. Across that span of games, McKenna has 12 goals and 47 points.
He says team success as well as his line mates, Ryder Ritchie and Oasiz Wiesblatt, has led to his own success with the streak.
“It obviously helps me when the team is winning, it helps everyone,” Mckenna said. “My line has been playing pretty well, we’ve started to click here, and it’s been helping.”
The longest point streak of his young career was in Medicine Hat, but not (yet) with the Tigers. McKenna recorded a point in 41-straight U18 games in 2022-23.
He had points in 28 straight regular season and playoff games with the South Alberta Hockey Academy, got on the scoresheet in all six games of the Circle K Classic that SAHA won and broke the scoring record at the Canada Winter Games with Team Yukon, amassing 31 points in seven games. The lone game he didn’t record a point that season, a playoff loss to end the CSSHL season.
McKenna sits tied for second in WHL scoring with 20 goals and 73 points through 36 games.
Associate coach Joe Frazer says it’s incredible to watch the young star and see how he is able to generate offence.
“He gets the hardest matchups and to see how him and his line have created, whether it’s five-on-five power play, they just create a ton of offence for us,” Frazer said. “It’s pretty remarkable what he’s doing and it speaks volumes to his play without the puck too. Plus mines, that line is not giving up a lot defensively and it hasn’t taken away from their offence, it’s adding to it.”
He led the league in scoring before he departed for the World Juniors and was just passed by Spokane forward Andrew Cristall who has been on a tear since being acquired from the Kelowna Rockets, with five goals and 17 points in six games with his new team.
Since returning from the World Juniors, McKenna says he has more confidence but is also looking to get better. Especially when it comes to lighting the goal lamp, being held to two goals in seven games back from playing for Canada.
“I have to start shooting more, I have just the one goal since being back and that’s not good enough for me,” McKenna said. “So I want to start working harder, I think that’ll help me, it’ll produce more offence, so I’m just getting back on track.”
How that scoring can come McKenna says, finding the right spots on the ice.
“I play with two great players, so they’re going to find me, I just have to make sure I’m getting in the right spots at the right times.”
Editors note: This story has been updated following the Tigers’ 3-2, comeback win over Spokane on Friday. See medicinehatnes.com/sports for the full game story.
