Meet the teen hockey phenom who went from a backyard Yukon rink to the top WHL draft pick
Gavin McKenna, 14, was chosen 1st overall in the Western Hockey League draft this spring
Last hockey season was a good one for Gavin McKenna in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League's U18 division.
He was their top scorer with 65 points in 35 games.
McKenna's outstanding performance led to him becoming the first overall draft pick by the Medicine Hat Tigers in the upcoming Western Hockey League (WHL) season.
"I kind of knew that I was bound to accomplish something," McKenna said from his Whitehorse home. "But, yeah, it came quick. So, uh, it was a bit surprising."
That's because McKenna is just 14 years old.
With the first-overall pick in the 2022 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WHLDraft?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WHLDraft</a>, the <a href="https://twitter.com/tigershockey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Tigershockey</a> select forward Gavin McKenna of the <a href="https://twitter.com/rha_kelowna?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rha_kelowna</a>. <a href="https://t.co/NyKycBbsPI">pic.twitter.com/NyKycBbsPI</a>
—@TheWHLAccording to the CSSHL, he's just the third player to be granted exceptional player status by B.C. Hockey and Hockey Alberta, behind the WHL's Connor Bedard and Matthew Savoie, who is a top prospect in the 2022 NHL draft taking place Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.
The status gives players the rare privilege of entering the WHL at such an early age.
'Really exceptional'
Willie Desjardins, the head coach and general manager of the Medicine Hat Tigers, likes how McKenna plays, and he especially likes how McKenna leads in scoring.
"I want to win championships," said Desjardins.
He's hoping McKenna, who turns 15 in December, can help do that, even though WHL rules say he can only play five games this season because of his age.
Fourteen-year-old Gavin McKenna has become the first Yukoner to be the 1st top draft pick for the WHL. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheMoment?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheMoment</a> <a href="https://t.co/rCk8qtodTh">pic.twitter.com/rCk8qtodTh</a>
—@CBCTheNationalThe 2021-2022 season saw the Tigers come in last in the WHL's eastern conference with only 11 wins and 53 losses.
"So we made some moves and that's the only reason we got Gavin. We traded away other players. We got other picks in the first round."
Desjardins says he can see McKenna's confidence on the ice and wants to set him up to succeed.
"I look forward to having a guy that is excited when the game's on the line, and a guy who wants the puck like he's not afraid to have the puck. He wants the puck. He wants to be out there. Those things excite me about a player."
A former NHL coach and coach of the 2018 Canadian Olympic Men's Hockey team, Desjardins admits it's not very often he sees a player like McKenna.
"His vision is really exceptional."
He says it's rare that a 14 year old is chosen as the first overall pick.
"He's got lots of growth, lots of things to do. He's got lots of things to overcome," said Desjardins.
"It's a process. So where he ends up remains to be seen a little bit. But he's certainly well on his way."
The love of the game
McKenna's parents, Willy and Krystal, both played hockey so it was easy to pass along the love of the game to their only son, who got hooked at a very young age.
Krystal remembers those years very well, including early ice times almost every day. Not just on the ice, but off the ice as well — specifically, in the basement of their old house in Whitehorse, which was unfurnished.
"We just kind of left it open for him. And the walls got pretty damaged from him shooting balls and pucks and stuff at the nets."
Willy also constructed outdoor rinks in their backyard every winter and McKenna was there, even in -30 C weather.
"My dad obviously put lots of hours into building it. So I would have to repay him by spending hours on the ice, too," McKenna said with a smile.
He also says shooting more than 100 pucks a day in that backyard all year was what helped him get to where he's at.
The family says the people of Whitehorse and the business community help them fundraise so they can travel at least a dozen times a year to go to hockey camps and tournaments.
Krystal says they couldn't have done it without that support, whether people were buying raffle tickets or Christmas trees.
"Anything that we were selling, they were buying … whether they wanted it or not. If we were collecting pop cans for recycling, the neighbors were definitely there."
Making sacrifices
McKenna started travelling for hockey camps and tournaments when he was about eight. Since then, he's gone as far away as Italy and Nashville for training, and most recently Detroit.
"We didn't really have a choice," Krystal said of the decision to let their son travel for hockey. "He didn't really have a lot of competition here. So we knew that he needed to be challenged."
Willy says he's proud of how far his son has come.
"He has to work harder than a lot of teens. But at the same time, he's meeting so many different people. He's making so many different friends."
Last season, McKenna attended the RINK Hockey Academy in Kelowna, B.C., where he got daily ice and gym time — and got scouted by the WHL.
"There's lots of pressure coming from being a first overall pick," he admitted. "Just playing with older guys, a lot more skilled guys, quicker guys, stronger guys. I'm nervous, but I'm also excited to have this opportunity."
McKenna, who knows it's not an opportunity most 14-year-olds get, is spending his summer at home in Whitehorse training for his WHL debut — the Tigers' season opener against the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Sept. 24.
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