(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Canada forward Gavin McKenna celebrates his first goal during first period IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship tournament action against Finland, Dec. 26, 2024, in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Gavin McKenna admits he didn’t watch a lot of college hockey growing up in Western Canada.

But the projected 2026 NHL draft’s top prospect saw enough last season to know he wanted to play for Penn State.

McKenna met with reporters Monday for the first time since shocking the hockey world in July by announcing his departure from the Western Hockey League to commit to Guy Gadowsky’s Nittany Lions.

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

The 17-year-old was already the main man for a winning program.

He finished second in the WHL with 129 points (41 goals, 88 assists) in 56 games last season and was the league’s player of the year. He led the Medicine Hat Tigers to the WHL championship and Memorial Cup finals.

In his three seasons for Medicine Hat, McKenna had 79 goals and 165 assists.

Now he aims to provide even more scoring and playmaking for the Nittany Lions who return their top six scorers from last season’s squad that fell a game short of playing for an NCAA title.

“It’s continuing on where we left off and I think Gavin was really adamant about that when coming in and talking about the reasons why,” Gadowsky said. “He’s here to enhance that, not change that.”

McKenna is joined by new teammates Lev Katzin, Luke Misa and Shea Van Olm, and defensemen Jackson Smith and Nolan Collins who are among the nearly 325 CHL players who have committed to Division I college programs this year.

The NCAA lifted its ban on CHL players in November, paving the way for McKenna and other CHL players — previously considered professionals because they received stipends for living expenses — to defect to the NCAA ranks.

McKenna, living on his own for the first time nearly 3,500 miles from his home in Whitehorse in Canada’s Yukon Territory, has already made a strong first impression on his coaches and teammates.

Gadowsky said McKenna, is a “chill, great hang” while team captain Dane Dowiak called him a normal guy who “just wants to win.”

They’ve all been mesmerized by the winger’s hockey IQ, speed and ability to think and react before defenders can get a bead on him.

“He does think the game differently,” Gadowsky said. “He’s a different animal when it comes to that. Not only compared to any other freshman, compared to anybody.”

But there are areas where the phenom will be tested, Gadowsky said.

Notably, McKenna goes from being one of the older players in the WHL where players as young as 15 can suit up, to one of the youngest in the NCAA ranks.

“He’s going to be playing against guys eight years older that have been lifting weights in a very structured environment for a long time,” Gadowsky said. “Don’t forget, he’s 17 so there is going to be a transition process, there really is.”

McKenna is counting on it.

“I think there’s a lot less time and space,” McKenna said. “The guys are bigger, faster, older. It’s not too different in terms of skill and stuff. Obviously both leagues are very skilled and guys can make plays, but in terms of speed and size, I think that’s the biggest difference.”

Listed at 6-foot, 170 pounds, McKenna said he considered the length of the NCAA season a positive and negative when making his decision.

A negative because he loves the game and wants to play as much as possible. Even with a postseason run, Penn State played 40 games last year. McKenna skated in more than 60 games each of the last two seasons with Medicine Hat.

The positive? He’ll have some time to develop physically for what comes after his time in Happy Valley.

“I’m itching to play games,” McKenna said. “With that though, that’s a reason I came here is because less games, more time in the gym. I’m not a big guy, so I want to put on weight and that was part of the reason I came here.”

And to win.

Aiden Fink, the team’s leading scorer last season with 23 goals and 30 assists, is looking forward to skating with McKenna and is ready for the extra attention on the program.

“It’s going to be an exciting year for us, definitely,” Fink said.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Canada’s Gavin McKenna (9) skates with the puck as United States’ Drew Fortescue (5) defends during the second period of an IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship tournament game in Ottawa, Ontario, Dec. 31, 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

(AP) Gavin McKenna said he is committing to Penn State, leaving the Canadian Hockey League for the U.S. college ranks in a long-anticipated decision by one of the sport’s most anticipated prospects since Connor McDavid.

McKenna’s jump highlights how much the junior developmental hockey landscape has changed in North America since the NCAA’s landmark decision in November to lift its ban on CHL player participation.

After word of McKenna’s destination leaked Monday, he made the announcement on “SportsCenter” on Tuesday. It coincidentally came 15 years to the day after “The Decision” when LeBron James revealed on ESPN he was leaving Cleveland for Miami.

“It was a super tough decision,” McKenna said before donning a Penn State hat. “Obviously there was a lot of great options out there, but I think me, my family and everyone that’s kind of a part of my circle, we all decided that the best spot for me next year will be Penn State University.”

McKenna, who turns 18 in December, is regarded a generational talent and has for the past two years been projected as the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL draft.

“The (Western Hockey League) was a great spot, and I’m very grateful for what it did for me and my family,” McKenna said, adding he believes facing bigger, older competition will help make the leap to the NHL easier. “Both options were great, but I just think going to college, being in such a great conference, it’ll really challenge me and prepare me.”

Leaving the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers after two-plus seasons, McKenna joining Nittany Lions makes them an immediate contender to win a Frozen Four title. He had narrowed his choices to Penn State, coming off losing its Frozen Four debut in April, and Michigan State.

“You saw what Penn State did this year making the Frozen Four,” McKenna said. “They’ve come a long ways, and I think next year when I go there, obviously that’s the goal is to win a championship with them.”

The NCAA rule change coincides with schools being allowed to lure recruits with name, image, likeness (NIL) endorsement money, further tipping the scales toward CHL players making the jump. Previously, CHL players were barred from competing in college because they were deemed professionals for receiving a stipend of up to $600 per month for living expenses.

The lifting of the ban led to college hockey officials envisioning the NCAA replacing the CHL as North America’s top producer of NHL draft-ready talent.

From Whitehorse, Yukon, McKenna is coming off his second full season with Medicine Hat in which he finished second in the WHL with 129 points (41 goals, 88 assists), behind 20-year Andrew Cristall’s 132. McKenna’s point total was third among all CHL players, rounded out by OHL’s Michael Misa’s 134. Misa is a year older and was selected second by San Jose in this year’s draft.

McKenna most notably closed this season with a 45-game point streak in which he combined for 32 goals and 100 points, and finished the playoffs with nine goals and 38 points in 16 games. Including playoffs, he failed to register a point just four times.

McKenna’s potential has already caused a ripple effect among NHL teams, who have been guarded about trading their 2026 first-round selections in fear of potentially missing out on a chance to select him.

McKenna’s name even caused a buzz at the Frozen Four in St. Louis, where there was already speculation of him being lured south.

Counting the regular season and playoffs, McKenna combined for 91 goals and 198 assists for 289 points in 158 career games in the WHL.

He already has NHL ties in being a cousin by marriage to Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft. McKenna grew up in Whitehorse befriending the family of Dylan Cozens, the Ottawa Senators forward who was selected seventh overall by Buffalo in the 2019 draft.