Hockey star Gavin McKenna is celebrating what he says is a dream come true.
On Friday, the 16-year-old Trondek Hwëch’in First Nation citizen from Whitehorse was selected by Team Canada to play at the World Juniors next week.
McKenna is the youngest player named in this year’s Team Canada roster.
“This is kind of the biggest accomplishment for me yet, I would say, and it’s obviously going to be one I remember for the rest of my life,” McKenna said in an interview with TSN after hearing the news.
“I grew up watching the World Juniors with my family, so to kind of finally have this becoming reality and have the opportunity to play in it, it’s pretty special for me, my family.”
McKenna is one of only eight 16-year-olds to be chosen for the World Juniors. That list includes the likes of Wayne Gretzkey and Sidney Crosby.
McKenna said he’s already thinking about his strategy.
“I want to bring lots of offense, and I want to be the hardest worker out there. I want to do whatever I can to help this team win,” he said.
McKenna’s mother, Krystal McKenna, told APTN News she couldn’t be prouder.
“He’s wanted this literally, since he’s been, oh, I don’t know, literally two-years-old. This has been a dream of his…It’s very exciting, for sure,” she said.
The championship begins Boxing Day in Ottawa with Canada playing a game against Finland.
Krystal said her family plans to travel to Ottawa for Christmas so they can spend some time with McKenna and “try to make it as normal as possible for him.”
“Our phones have been going crazy,” she said. “Everyone in the Yukon is just beyond excited to be able to watch him on Boxing Day,” she said.
Hockey prodigy
McKenna is a forward for the Medicine Hat Tigers, leading the CHL this season with sixty points in thirty games.
While he isn’t eligible for the NHL draft until 2026, those following the hockey sensation predict he’ll be the number one pick.
McKenna’s advisor and family friend Byron Ritchie said the teen is gearing up to be the next big name in hockey.
“That’s been a big goal of his for a while now, and for him to reach it at such a young age and be in some elite company as of other players that have done the same, I’m super proud of him,” Ritchie said.
He noted McKenna has a bright future ahead of him.
“I think that there’s no real limit to what he can accomplish. He’s got those abilities, and he’s got that drive where he sets the bar for himself very high, and he seems to always reach that bar,” he said.
McKenna is the second person from Yukon to play for Team Canada at the World Juniors, the other being Dylan Cozens who won gold in 2020.
