Penn State Eager to Unveil the Most Exciting Player in College Hockey

Penn State made the biggest offseason signing in college hockey in June, landing the projected No. 1 pick of the 2026 NHL Draft. McKenna, who became the third-youngest player to win the CHL’s player-of-the-year award after Sidney Crosby and John Tavares, had a remarkable season for the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League. McKenna totaled 129 regular-season points (41 goals, 88 assists) and had a 54-game points streak that included the playoffs.

After that, McKenna became the highest-ranked prospect to choose to play NCAA hockey. McKenna cited several factors beyond Penn State’s campus and facilities in his decision.

“Going from 68 games in a year to 33 or whatever it is, that's going to be a challenge,” McKenna said. “I love the game and itch to play games. So with that, though, that's the reason I came here; less games and more time in the gym. I'm not a big guy, so I want to put on weight.”

“Seeing what these guys did last year, making it to the Frozen Four, that was obviously a big influence on me, and I wanted to come to a winning team, and I thought this was a spot,” McKenna added.

When McKenna (6-0, 170 pounds) arrived on campus for his official visit, some new teammates took him out to dinner. McKenna said he felt out the locker room that night and realized these were the teammates he wanted to be around. 

He also played Gadowsky in ping pong. Gadowsky won, then also won the rematch. “You can print that,” Gadowsky said with a smirk.

McKenna thinks the game ‘differently’

Despite the two losses to his coach, McKenna climbed the ping pong leaderboard that hangs in the locker room. He’s as competitive at the ping pong table as he is on the ice. However, hockey remains his No. 1 game. 

“He does think the game differently,” Gadowsky said. “It's a different animal when it comes to that, not only compared to any other freshmen, just compared to anybody. He thinks the game in a very unique, quite amazing way. And you can see that when there's drills that are game-specific, that have a lot of traffic. He just, somehow uses time and space in a very, very unique way.”

Gadowsky didn’t stop there. At Penn State hockey media day, where he was peppered with questions about McKenna, the coach almost ran out of adjectives.

“He manipulates the pace. I was very surprised to see how fast and quick he was, like he's very quick, and his conditioning is excellent as well,” Gadowsky said. “It's not that he picks up the pace. He manipulates the pace. So that's the most amazing thing about him. Obviously, his puck skills are elite. The skating is elite, his edges, but I really enjoy it, and I think the other players on the team have really enjoyed watching his mind work.”

So how does Gadowsky coach a player who likely will be one-and-done with Penn State? He embraces McKenna’s creativity. Gadowsky wants him to create and think on his own.

“It's a matter of not telling him what to do with the puck,” Gadowsky. “It's going to be to remind him of the habits that he needs without the puck to play at the next level, and we've been very fortunate to work with some very high-end coaches that can reinforce what we're doing here. And that's what it's going to be. It's certainly not going to be to try to understand his mind, because I have never seen anything like that."