McKenna reaches yet another level with record-breaking point streak

By JAMES TUBB on April 30, 2025.

jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb

It’s hard to measure the growth of Gavin McKenna.

His height and weight can be tracked, from the WHL draft to the third-round of the WHL Playoffs in his sophomore year, he’s physically grown.

After being selected first overall in 2022 and his four-assist debut, head coach Willie Desjardins looked at the then 15-year-old as a player they could use on the power play after he finished his U18 career.

But just as he’s done ever since he donned the orange and black, McKenna more than exceeded expectation.

He played a large role in the Tigers making the playoffs in 2023, then led the team as a rookie in 2024, capturing CHL and WHL RoY while bearing the responsibility of carrying a team.

Even after a record-setting summer with two gold medals for Canada, he still somehow found another level.

His 51-game, CHL record point streak, set in Saturday’s 7-2, Game 2 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes, was never on the radar or a perceived option, but he did it anyway. It’s just another milestone, expectation or moment the 17-year-old star has had in front of him that he’s surpassed.

“Coming into the year, that wasn’t in the back of my mind, but once I got to a certain point it was a goal in mind to see how far I can go, and now, we’ll keep seeing how far it goes,” McKenna said Saturday.

McKenna’s point streak, which began Nov. 6, 20024, passed Québec Remparts graduate Alexander Radulov, who went 50 straight games with a point from Oct. 26 to March 15 during the 2005-06 season. It’s a feat Desjardins says McKenna should be proud of.

“Whenever you can get your name in the record book, that’s an unbelievable feat,” Desjardins said. “Radulov has been gone from the CHL for a long time and now it’s Gav, that’s an unbelievable accomplishment.

“It’s one thing to have some big games, it’s another to put 51 together. So lots of credit to him, it’s exciting. He’s an exciting player, every time he’s on the ice he has a chance to get a point. So it’s pretty special and it’s special that he’s part of our organization.”

In that 51-game span, McKenna had 41 multi-point efforts, with eight multi-goal games and a single-game high of seven points in a 7-3 win over the Red Deer Rebels on March 15. A lot of those points come with the help of his lineman Oasiz Wiesblatt, who jokingly takes credit for McKenna reaching the record books.

The 21-year-old captain says McKenna just keeps on surprising people.

“He just works so hard and he really wants it and he completely deserves it,” Wiesblatt said. “He surpassed my thoughts and I know he’s just gonna keep going. He’s not done and he’s just such an incredible player and person.”

McKenna has led the Tigers through two rounds of the WHL playoffs with seven goals and 29 points in 11 games entering Game 3 Wednesday at Lethbridge. It’s a playoff run that already has him fifth in franchise history for points in a single playoff, and second in assists in the same span.

His two gold medals for Canada are an example of his ability to perform in bright lights. The attention has since been turned up a few dozen notches with highlight after highlight making its way around social media and the hockey world. It’s an added pressure he welcomes as a privilege.

“In big games it’s easy to get up for (them) when you have a group like this behind you and guys are all fighting for the same goal,” McKenna said. “When it’s our big moments, that’s when our team thrives, and there’s just excitement that gets us going.”

McKenna has always been in the spotlight, from the second he was drafted by the Tigers there were lofty expectations placed upon his then narrow shoulders. He’s risen to the moment, more that exceeded opinions and experts along the way, forging a path that has him destined to become the first Medicine Hat Tiger to be selected first overall in the NHL Draft.

Desjardins sat down with McKenna before that draft in 2022 as the pair enjoyed a steak dinner in Nashville while the latter played at a selects tournament, winning the tournament of course.

The steak was good, the conversation as well, as they discussed his future as a Tiger. Did Desjardins imagine this level of play would follow desert from that night?

“You can never think that,” Desjardins said.

“I knew he was an unbelievable player, I saw him do things I had only seen a few NHL players do, so I knew right there we was pretty incredible. But there’s so many things that can happen, like tons can happen between where he was at and where he is now. So you can’t think or predict that.

“You might think, ‘Geez, this guy is pretty special,’ but every day you have to show it and that’s what he has done.”

25
-24