Gavin McKenna made waves last year when he left the Canadian Hockey League's Medicine Hat Tigers to join Penn State and the Nittany Lions in the NCAA.
The 18-year-old won a championship with the Tigers in the Western Hockey League in 2024-25, and made the move to college in his NHL Draft season. McKenna shared some insight into why amid his first season in Pennsylvania.
“Midseason, I thought there was no chance I was coming to college, but as last year went on, I started to look into it a bit more, and when we won the championship, I was like, there's not much more to do, so I thought college was the next step for me,” McKenna said on the Spittin' Chiclets podcast on Friday.
“I had some Zoom calls, called [Penn State] and a couple other schools, kind of slimmed it down to two schools and came and visited here. It's hard to say no to what you got here. I met the coaches, met some players, and just people I wanted to surround myself with and the facilities and stuff, you don't get much better than this.”
McKenna reveals he also had NHL Draft reasoning to move from junior to college hockey.
“I feel like it would make the jump to the NHL a little bit smoother,” the Whitehorse, Yukon native said. “You see what [San Jose Sharks forward Macklin] Celebrini and those guys are doing, just hopping right into the league and dominating. So, I think coming to college here, you're playing against guys who are older and faster, and it makes it a little bit easier.”
Gavin McKenna following the Macklin Celebrini blueprint
McKenna is trying to follow in the footsteps of Celebrini, who was selected No. 1 overall by the Sharks in the 2024 NHL Draft. After spending one season at Boston University — and recording 64 points in 38 games — the Canadian made the jump to the big leagues the following year.
Celebrini finished as a Calder Trophy finalist after amassing 63 points in 70 games in his rookie campaign, a year the Sharks only won 20 total games while finishing dead last.
This season, he's emerged as a superstar and legitimate Hart Trophy candidate as league MVP, with an eye-opening 79 points in 52 games in 2025-26 — good for fourth league-wide. And San Jose is reaping the benefits, currently right in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race at the end of January.
McKenna is destined to follow a similar path; he will almost certainly spend one year at college, be a top-three pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, and immediately join whatever franchise ends up selecting him.
The left winger is having a great showing with the Nittany Lions after a slow start in 2025-26, now up to 10 goals and 29 points in 22 games. The freshman will continue leading 18-6 Penn State as the school looks for a championship this spring.
