After far from storybook season, McKenna first overall NHL pick

Beating adversity will be asset in new life with Leafs

Gavin McKenna, centre, dons a Leafs jersey. (Photo by Natalie Shaver/CHL)

In the year leading up to being the first overall selection in the NHL Entry Draft, Gavin McKenna traveled a path no else has ever travelled.

Last Friday, McKenna was picked first overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL Entry Draft held at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. Pop superstar Justin Bieber, who is from London, Ontario, put on a WWE style promo in making the first overall pick for the Leafs, and in the process he drew huge amounts of loud boos from the partisan Buffalo fans adding to the entertainment spectacle of the event.

From that moment, McKenna, who is from Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory, has had a love in with the Leafs organization, their fans and Toronto as a city. The honeymoon phase of McKenna’s arrival in Toronto is definitely on.

The 18-year-old left-winger ultimately ended up where he was supposed to be after navigating a 2025-26 campaign with the Penn State University Nittany Lions that contained various twists and turns. During that campaign, McKenna dealt with criticisms coming from a slow first half of the season to dealing with legal matters that came up early in the second half of the campaign.

The adversity McKenna faced might make him ready for the adversity he will eventually encounter playing in the fishbowl setting the Leafs deal with in Toronto that is unlike any other market in the NHL.

Back in June of 2025, McKenna was targeted to be the consensus first overall selection in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. He had just come off a sensational 17-year-old season in the WHL with the Medicine Hat Tigers in 2024-25.

In 56 regular season games, McKenna, who stands 6-feet and weighs 170 pounds, piled up 129 points coming off 41 goals and 88 assists to go with a plus-60 rating in the plus-minus department. He helped the Tigers finish second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 47-17-3-1 record.

McKenna proceeded to help the Tigers win their sixth WHL title in team history posting a 16-2 mark in the 2025 WHL Playoffs. He played in 16 games in the WHL Playoffs recording nine goals and 29 assists for 38 points to go with a plus-14 rating.

The Tigers proceeded to advance to the Memorial Cup tournament that crowns a CHL champion. At that year’s tournament played in Rimouski, Quebec, Medicine Hat topped the preliminary round standings with a 3-0 mark to make the event’s championship game. In the Memorial Cup title clash, the Tigers fell 4-1 to the London Knights, who are a storied powerhouse in the OHL.

In the four games the Tigers played at the Memorial Cup tournament, McKenna had three goals and three assists and a plus-two rating.

Gavin McKenna in action in the 2025 WHL final.

He piled up the trophy case with all sorts of individual honours that season. The honours that came McKenna’s way included being named the recipient of the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as WHL player of the year and being named the CHL player of the year. I even had one or two hockey observers tell me they thought McKenna was more NHL ready than phenom centre Connor Bedard was when he joined the Chicago Blackhawks as an 18-year-old.

Due to the fact McKenna didn’t turn 18 until December 20, 2025, he wasn’t eligible for the 2025 NHL Entry Draft that was held June 27 to 28 of that year in Los Angeles, California. Had McKenna been eligible for that draft, he would have been selected first overall.

Back when the Tigers selected McKenna first overall in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft, they were expecting to have him for his 18-year-old season due to his December birth date. That all changed on November 7, 2024 when the NCAA Division I Council voted to abolish old rules that classified CHL players as professional.

Starting on August 1, 2025, players from the CHL’s three major junior circuits in the WHL, OHL and QMJHL were eligible to play for NCAA Division I teams. Basically, CHL players will maintain NCAA eligibility as long as they have not signed an entry-level contract with an NHL team.

Since 2021, the NCAA’s guidelines regarding name, image and likeness (NIL) changed, and athletes were now able to make money through NIL deals. With McKenna being viewed in June 2025 as the consensus first overall selection for the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, the writing was on the wall that NCAA teams were in a recruiting battle to bring him to the United States.

McKenna officially committed to joining the Nittany Lions on July 8, 2025. In July, ESPN reported McKenna’s NIL money for attending Penn State is “in the ballpark” of US$700,000.

It seemed like McKenna was poised to have a dream season with Penn State before joining the NHL. Fairly or unfairly depending on your view, the NIL payout to McKenna brought expectations to perform. He ended up having the most roller-coaster season of his hockey career to date, which inadvertently might prepare him for life with the Leafs.

During the first half of the 2025-26 campaign with the Nittany Lions, McKenna came face to face with tonnes of criticism from media that covers NCAA Division I men’s hockey for being underwhelming. He recorded four goals, 14 assists and a minus-five rating in his first 16 games with Penn State.

Observers that saw McKenna play in the NCAA during that time said he has been outstanding skating on the power play or four-versus-four situations when he has time and space on the ice. The NCAA league is filled with players aged 18 to 23 with the majority being aged 20 to 23 and that changed things for McKenna when it came to five-on-five play.

When it came to McKenna’s five-on-five play going against players who are more physically developed because of their age, observers said McKenna hadn’t been good. Observers noted McKenna has shown a lack of engagement and been unwilling to compete in those situations. The word “passenger” was used to describe McKenna’s effort when it came to five-on-five play.

Gavin McKenna was the CHL player of the year in 2024-25.

The criticisms of McKenna’s play intensified at World Juniors, which were played from December 26, 2025 to this past January 5 in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. The criticisms reached their height after Canada fell 6-4 to Czechia in a semifinal contest on January 4 in Saint Paul.

In that loss, McKenna had one assist and took some bad penalties inside the last six minutes of the third period. On the eye test, he didn’t look good during five-on-five play and made business decisions bowing away from spots where he had to compete and battle for the puck. The fact McKenna lost his cool after Czechia’s empty-net goal inside the final 30 seconds of that game where he got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a 10-minute misconduct didn’t help things.

At that point, it was pretty definite McKenna was not a lock to be selected first overall in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. Skilled forward Ivar Stenberg of Sweden, who played for that country’s Frolunda FC men’s team, and Canadian defenceman Keaton Verhoeff, who is an alum of the WHL’s Victoria Royals and was playing for the NCAA’s University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks, entered the chat.

On the ice, the semifinal loss ended up being the turning point of McKenna’s season. It seemed like he was hearing the noise at that point.

In Canada’s 6-3 bronze medal win over Finland one night later in Saint Paul, he looked a lot more dialed in when it came to playing a strong game at both ends of the ice. He finished with one goal and three assists to be named the game MVP for Canada.

In Canada’s seven overall games at World Juniors, McKenna recorded four goals, 10 assists and a plus-seven rating.

During the second half of the Nittany Lions season, he skated in 19 games recording 11 goals, 22 assists and a minus-two rating. On the season in Penn State, McKenna finished with 51 points coming off 15 goals and 36 assists in 35 games to go with a minus-seven rating. The Nittany Lions made it to the round of 16 in the NCAA Division I championship tournament and fell 3-1 to the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs 3-1 at the MVP Arena in Albany, New York on March 27.

Penn State finished the 2025-26 campaign with a 21-14-2 overall record. McKenna was Big Ten Conference Scoring Champion with 38 points coming off 11 goals and 27 assists in 24 conference games. He was also named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and a Hobey Baker Memorial Award Top 10- Finalist amongst the accolades he piled up for the season.

During the second half of the season, McKenna hit a big bump off the ice on January 31 following his team’s 5-4 overtime loss against the Michigan State University Spartans in an outdoor contest played at Beaver Stadium before 74,575 spectators on the Penn State campus.

Following an alleged physical altercation on the evening of January 31 in downtown State College, McKenna was charged with felony aggravated assault, misdemeanour simple assault, disorderly conduct and harassment. According to the Onward State media outlet, the incident occurred at 8:45 p.m. in front of the Pugh Street Parking Garage and McKenna and his group were coming from Doggie’s Pub. He was arraigned on February 4 and released on $20,000 unsecure bail.

Gavin McKenna has faced adversity since leaving the Tigers.

On February 6 after reviewing a video of the altercation, Centre County District Attorney and State College Police decided that the video showed there was no evidence that McKenna had acted with the intent to cause serious bodily injury and the aggravated assault charge was dropped.

On April 21, Forbes reported McKenna waived his formal arraignment in Pennsylvania court, which is a procedural step that moves his criminal case forward without requiring him to appear in person for that hearing. Basically at that point, the defendant’s lawyer confirmed receipt of the charges and a not guilty plea is generally entered automatically. The Forbes piece said that move is largely for procedural efficiency allowing the case to proceed without an additional court date that rarely changes the direction of the matter.

McKenna’s case has been advanced into the pretrial phase of the criminal process. At this stage, both sides engage in work to see if the matter can be resolved without a trial. Alternative resolutions are also explored at this point.

The Forbes article goes on to say McKenna will raise the self-defence argument as he is facing only misdemeanour charges, and his defence counsel is also likely telling prosecutors that no jury will convict McKenna given the claim that he was acting to protect his mother, Krystal, while also being harassed by the victim along with the fact he is a first time offender.

After that development, Krystal was charged on April 29 with two misdemeanour counts of furnishing alcohol to minors for an alleged incident occurring on the evening of January 31 inside Doggies Pub.

From what I can tell, these legal matters are still ongoing. In the time since Gavin’s initial arrest, I had a couple of folks message me that live in the United States to tell me it is common in that country for people to antagonize celebrities into getting the celebrity to attack them in order to get a big payout in civil court with a lawsuit over physical damages.

Looking at how the case is playing out with the McKenna family, I believe and speculate this whole situation stinks of the victim potentially trying to get a payout from Gavin or law enforcement officers trying to make up for missteps in doing their jobs. Still, I have learned from court reporters over the years to never be certain about the outcomes a court system will give to a case. The McKenna family legal situation has the potential to not go away any time soon and continue to be a pain in the butt dealing with the lesser charges.

In another smaller adversity that came up, Gavin McKenna did take on criticism for deciding against playing for Canada at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Men’s World Championship held this past May 15 to 31 in Zurich and Fribourg, Switzerland, to better prepare for the NHL Draft Combine. The Combine was held in the KeyBank Center in Buffalo from June 1 to 6, and McKenna finished in the top 10 of five of the fitness tests.

With having to deal with all these adversities in the last 12 months, McKenna might be the most prepared prospect to ever play for the Leafs and the fishbowl that goes with playing in Toronto. He has also traveled a path no other first overall NHL Entry Draft selection has ever had to travel.

McKenna is also a Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation citizen, and he became the second Indigenous player to go first overall in the NHL Entry Draft with centre Dale McCourt going to the Detroit Red Wings in 1977. If McKenna flourishes into NHL stardom with the Leafs, he could make a major societal impact in being a major positive influence in Indigenous communities.

Gavin McKenna (#72) celebrates scoring a goal in the 2025 WHL Playoffs.

Due to the fact he is going to play in Toronto, it is not naïve to say more adversities are coming McKenna’s way. Those adversities would be hard pressed to be more challenging than the ones he has come across over the past 12 months.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Huskies flood 2026 class for Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame

Dean Bertoia shakes hands with Kent Kowalski, right.

The announcement of the 2026 class for the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame turned out to be a banner day for alums from the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

On Thursday during a news conference at the Gordie Howe Sports Centre building on the Gordie Howe Sports complex grounds, five athletes, three builders and one team were named to the 2026 class for the Hall. The Hall also named the Saskatoon 60+ Hockey League as the Sports Organization of the Year. The official induction dinner will take place on Saturday, November 7 at 5:30 p.m. at Prairieland Park.

The Huskies alums entering the Hall in that athletes category include Dean Bertoia in track and field, Terry Johnson in wrestling and Kent Kowalski in soccer. The lone team inductee for the 2026 class is the 2003-04 Huskies Men’s Volleyball Team that captured Canada West Conference and U Sports championships. Back in 2003-04, U Sports was known as Canadian Interuniversity Sport.

Kowalski played five seasons as a keeper for the Huskies Men’s Soccer Team from 1988 to 1992 picking up one second team all-Canadian all-star award and one first team all-Canadian all-star nod. Following his Huskies playing days, Kowalski has served as an assistant coach for the Huskies soccer program for most of the last 25 years. He was pumped to find out he was going to be part of the 2026 class for the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame.

“It is a great honour,” said Kowalski. “If you look at a lot of the faces and names that are in the Hall, it is nice to be considered as part of that group.

“Saskatoon has had so many great athletes over the years. I’m just happy to be considered. It is always an honour to be recognized for your past achievements.”

The 2003-04 Huskies Men’s Volleyball Team will get to have their third big reunion in the last four years. In 2023, they were inducted to the University of Saskatchewan Athletic Wall of Fame, and they entered the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 2024. Brian Gavlas, who is the head coach for the 2003-04 Huskies squad, said everyone with that team was pretty happy to get the nod to join the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame.

“It is a great honour,” said Gavlas. “There are a lot of outstanding athletes, builders and teams that are in the Hall.

“Being able to join that group and then also to join some of the groups that have been successful in our sport as well, I think it is a good honour and something that all of our guys and our team and hopefully the university is very proud of.”

Kowalski had a lengthy playing career in soccer that wrapped around his time with the Huskies. He played in the 1989 Canada Summer Game as a keeper for Saskatchewan’s provincial team.

Bob Reindl shakes hands with Brian Gavlas, right.

Kowalski played professionally for the Winnipeg Fury in the now defunct first Canadian Soccer League for three years. He helped the Fury win the Mita Cup in 1992 as CSL champions, which turned out to be that circuit’s final campaign of operation.

In 2012 at age 41, Kowalski played his final game as a keeper at the Canadian’s men’s amateur soccer championship helping the Huskie United Soccer Association of Saskatoon win bronze. Those experiences created a tone of lasting impressions.

“My biggest memories were with the Huskie days just getting lots of work and action,” said Kowalski. “The team at that time was so critical to development.

“I certainly remember some of the games in the Canada Games, because that was sort of a launching point for me in my career. My first start in the Canadian Soccer League I’ll always remember more than any other game in my career. And then, honestly, the final game at age 41 at nationals and playing it.

“I’m not sure I had the skills at that point, but they believed in me enough to play me, and it was a good way to finish my career.”

In the Fury’s CSL championship season in 1992, Kowalski backed up Pat Onstad, who is a member of the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame. The Fury faced the Vancouver 86ers in a two-game series in the CSL final.

In Game 1 in Winnipeg, the Fury posted a 2-0 victory, and they sealed the series win with a 1-1 draw in Game 2 in Vancouver. Kowalski holds that campaign close to his heart.

“I was fortunate at the time I came through to be on that team,” said Kowalski. “Those first two years there were a little bit rougher.

“Then halfway through that 92 season if you look back at the quality of that team, I’d say the majority of those players ended up playing for Canada’s national team and were part of that Gold Cup winning team (in 2000). Even if you watch a lot of the Canadian soccer games now, a lot of those players are still mentioned. It was incredible, and to beat Vancouver at home in that final (home) game, it is hard to overlook having that opportunity at that age.”

The 2003-04 Huskies Men’s Volleyball Team was playing in an era where they were constantly battling the University of Manitoba Bisons and the University of Alberta Golden Bears for top spot in both Canada West and U Sports as a whole. The Huskies finished third in the Canada West regular season standings with a 14-6 mark behind both Alberta and Manitoba.

The Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame presser attracted a good gathering.

U of S proceeded to sweep the Trinity Western University Spartans 2-0. In the Canada West Final Four hosted by the University of Manitoba, the Huskies got past the Golden Bears in the semifinal 3-1 and slipped past the Bisons 3-2 in the conference final. The Bisons were both the defending Canada West and U Sports champions entering the 2003-04 campaign.

At the U Sports Championship Tournament hosted by the Universite Laval in Quebec City, the Huskies downed Universite de Sherbrooke Vert et Or 3-0 in a quarter-final and took down the Spartans 3-0 in a semifinal. That set up a gold medal match against the Golden Bears.

In the championship final, the Huskies prevailed 3-2 by set scores of 27-25, 25-21, 19-25, 22-25 and 16-14. In the fifth set, the Huskies closed out the match scoring the championship point on a monster block from middle Darren Dove and outside hitter Adam Ens.

Ens took home honours at the U Sports Men’s Volleyball Player of the Year and was named the BLG Award as the U Sports Male Athlete of the Year. 

Outside hitter Andrew Lockhart claimed the Dale Iwanoczko TSN Award for commitment to academics and the community. Outside hitter Joel Ens, who is Adam’s brother, was named the MVP of the U Sports Championship Tournament.

“It is a good memory,” said Gavlas. “The previous year with very close to the similar team we lost a tough semifinal in five sets to Manitoba.

“The guys who returned came back pretty hungry. The biggest joy I have out of that group is the knowledge that four of our starters were red shirts (at one point in their careers), so that means that they weren’t real great coming in. They had to develop.

“They had to get better and to compete with the best in the country was a really tough task. The fact that those guys did that and evolved and developed and were able to succeed is a significant accomplishment. The fact that we had probably the best player in the country at the time didn’t hurt either.”

When the 2003-04 Huskies were inducted into the University of Saskatchewan Athletic Wall of Fame in 2023, Gavlas told his players they might have the chance to get together for a couple of more induction ceremonies. 

Part of the 2026 Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame class sits together.

That is going to materialize as the Huskies went into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 2024 and will enter the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame officially this coming November 7.

“We were a pretty good team, a group of Saskatchewan kids that played pretty hard and evolved,” said Gavlas. “We’re looking forward to getting together again, and hopefully, we get a good turnout and have a bit of a reunion again.”

Also heading to the Hall in the athlete category are Colin Coben in golf and Rob Scheller in softball. The three builders in the 2026 class include Gabriel Brecht in bowling, Bob Haver in rowing and Gary Loy in ringette.

Regier, Wildeman featured in “Howe Happenings”

Sam Regier takes part in pole vault at the SSSAD championships.

Sam Regier’s and Charlotte Wildeman’s high school track and field careers may have wrapped up, but they plan to be part of the sport’s local scene for some time to come.

The Grade 12 students from Aden Bowman Collegiate have committed to joining the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Track and Field program in the fall. On Tuesday, I went live with new content for the “Howe Happenings” blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a feature on Regier and Wildeman, who have been regulars training at the Track and Field Track on the Complex’s grounds as members of the Saskatoon Track and Field Club.

Regier missed pretty much all of his Grade 11 year with a hamstring injury. He returned to write a memorable conclusion to his high school career.

At the Saskatoon Secondary Schools Athletic Directorate’s Bob Adams City Track and Field Championship that ran May 27 to 28 at the Track and Field Track, Regier captured gold in the senior boys’ 100-metre hurdles and silver in the shot put and pole vault.

At the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association Track and Field Championships that ran last Friday and Saturday at the Track and Field Track, Regier picked up a pair of silver medals. He took second in the senior boy’s pole vault with a vault of 4.15 metres and second in the 100-metre hurdles with a time of 13.93 seconds.

Charlotte Wildeman won four high school provincial titles in pole vault.

In her final appearance at the SSSAD’s Bob Adams City Track and Field Championship, Wildeman claimed gold in the senior girls’ pole vault and 80-metre hurdles and took home bronze in the long jump. At the SHSAA’s Track and Field Championships, she captured silver in the senior girls’ 80-metre hurdles in a time of 12.19 seconds.

Wildeman’s biggest highlight came when she took home gold in the pole vault with a vault of 3.00 metres. That marked the fourth straight year that Wildeman won a gold medal in pole vault at a Saskatchewan high school provincial championship meet. The victory gave Wildeman a special wrap up to her high school career.

The piece on Regier and Wildeman can be found by clicking right here.

I also put together a photo roundup that is anchored by images from the Saskatoon Berries WCBL home opener and has pictures from all sorts of outdoor sports. The photo roundup can be found by clicking right here.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.