Penn State Nittany Lions News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

The Penn State Nittany Lions celebrate their win over the Michigan Wolverines in the Big Ten Men's Hockey Tournament. Brian Bradshaw Sevald-Imagn Images

Penn State Hockey: Guy Gadowsky Describes Gavin McKenna's Recruiting Process

Originally posted on Penn State Nittany Lions on SI
By Chase Fisher | Last updated Jul 15, 2025 5:49 PM ET

Penn State hockey made headlines recently after receiving a commitment from Gavin McKenna, the 17-year-old CHL star who is the consensus No. 1 overall prospect of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. That followed the program’s first first-round NHL draft pick and its first appearance in the Frozen Four.

Nittany Lions coach Guy Gadowsky met with the media Tuesday to discuss his program’s newsworthy offseason, which also included a pivotal change to the coaching staff. Here’s a Q&A from Gadowsky’s media session.

Question: The chase to get Gavin McKenna, can you walk us through when it first became an idea to you that that could be something that Penn State not only would be involved in but when? And then, when did you get to a point where you felt really good about your pitch and the process of landing him, as you guys did on ESPN?

Guy Gadowsky: There was mutual interest, but nothing was done until after [his WHL season concluded]. After his season, it was known he wanted to explore the NCAA, so that’s really when [we] really started looking at it. … [We were] nervous until it’s done, but once it was on SportsCenter and done, it felt very, very good, and I’m pumped for the Penn Staters that get to watch this guy.

Question: With all the hype surrounding McKenna, how good is he in your view and how do you coach him for likely one year? How hands-on do you get with him?

Gadowsky: I was fortunate enough to grow up to watch Wayne Gretzky play for Edmonton, and I think one of the things that makes [McKenna] so special is that he is so creative. His mind is just very different. And there’s no way that I or anybody else on our staff thinks like Gavin does. He is a very, very, special, special, special athlete who thinks very differently.

17-year-old hockey phenom Gavin McKenna is heading to Penn State to continue his career ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/qrxxfILu9P
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 8, 2025

Question: How excited are you for [former Nittany Lions assistant Keith Fisher] to get the head coaching job [at Lindenwood?

Gadowsky: Well, first of all, I'm pumped for Coach Fisher, and thanks for that question, because he's been such a good guy and such a great coach for not only Penn State, but also where we were in Princeton. He's been awesome. This is long overdue. It is. I'm really excited for him. I think he's going to do a great job, and he's definitely ready. So everybody from Penn State and a lot of our alumni, they're just, they're pumped for him.

Question: Are you excited for former [Penn State defenseman] Vince Pedrie [to join the staff], and do you think he'll bring a similar coaching style to the table, or will he be a little bit different?

Gadowsky: I think Vince is quite different. Obviously, Vince is a guy who played here at Penn State’ was a great player for us, and after two years, signed an NHL contract, played, you know additional years with pro with other NHL organizations. … I think he fits us really well for a couple reasons. One is he's a D man, so we haven't had a high-level defenseman before that's going to come in. He's going to be great for guys like Jackson Smith and the rest of our D corps to help them develop. And he's a guy that's been through the grind. He's been through the grind as a player. He's been through the grind as an agent. I love the fact that he loves hockey, and he's a lifer. And I just love that. I think obviously he loves Penn State, and fits it extremely well. We're all extremely happy for Coach Fisher to get his opportunity and sorry to see him leave, but very excited to have Vince Pedrie join us as well.

Question: There's been talk of a guy like Porter Martone possibly coming in, but he's on an NHL roster bubble. Is it possible for you guys to bring in a player like that who might still be in NHL contention late in September, early October?

Gadowsky: I mean, like I said before, it is a fluid situation, and you have to look at a lot of things. You have to look at everything from admissions dates to where you are with your lineup, in terms of injuries, eligibility, a whole lot of things. So ... I will never say we are going to do this for sure, or I'm not going to do this for sure. It's something that we examine every day.

Gadowsky also discussed Penn State's recruiting pitch to players.

“There’s a lot of things that make Penn State hockey a really attractive program for any potential student-athlete in it. We go through all of it, it’s not just one thing. It has to do with how we develop our facilities, the personnel, the philosophy of the administration, the support of the university and the support of Pegula Ice Arena and the great student body that makes it an incredible atmosphere. So I went through it all [(with McKenna].”