McKenna, the latest whiz kid from Canada

It is never an easy feat. Making a mark at the IIHF World Junior Championship, a tournament that includes the best teenage players in the world, takes skill, a little luck, even a little patience.

And it’s so much harder to make a mark as a 17-year-old. Team Canada’s Gavin McKenna will look to make his mark at the 2025 World Juniors in front of a home crowd in Ottawa as the tournament returns to Canada for the fourth time in the last five years.

Perhaps a good omen for McKenna and his mates is that Canada has won gold at the last two World Juniors held in the True North Strong and Free.

McKenna, who is still only 16 with his 17^th birthday on December 20, has been dreaming of this moment for a while.

“It’s a dream come true. I grew up watching the World Juniors with my family, so to finally make this a reality and have the opportunity to play in it is pretty special for me and my family,” McKenna said the day he found out he made Team Canada’s 25th player roster. “I was sitting in my room and got a knock on my door and was told — with me and Brayden Yager there — that we were on the team, and that Of course we were so pumped.”

McKenna has already made a name for himself, both in Canada – where he leads the Western Hockey League with 60 points in 30 games – and internationally, where he won two gold medals with Canada’s U18 men’s national team, first at the 2024 U18. World Championship and later at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup. His performance at the 2024 U18 Worlds was Bedard- or McDavid-esque, as McKenna scored a hat trick during Canada’s stunning third-period comeback in the gold medal game against the United States, which Canada won 6-4. McKenna had 10 goals and 10 assists in seven games in the tournament (as a sub).

During the Christmas break this year, under the bright lights of the World Junior Championship on Canadian soil, McKenna is becoming a household name for both passionate and casual hockey fans.

The list of 17-year-olds who have represented the nation at the World Juniors is not long. Underage players competing in the juniors are generational talents like Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby, and Hockey Hall of Famers including Steve Yzerman and Eric Lindros.

Only seven Canadians have debuted at the World Juniors at a younger age than McKenna – Jay Bouwmeester, Crosby, Connor Bedard, Jason Spezza, Lindros, Wayne Gretzky and McDavid.

McKenna has a tall order ahead of him and it will be interesting to see how he fares against others who have competed in the World Juniors at age 17. Macklin Celebrini, the first overall pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, had four goals and four assists in five games as Canada finished a disappointing fifth at the 2024 World Juniors in Sweden.

Bedard (who, incredibly, could represent Canada at this year’s tournament) set the standard at the 2023 tournament with 23 points – including nine goals – as he led Canada to gold at the event held in Halifax and Moncton. Legendary Czech Jaromir Jagr had 18 points at the 1990 event, second only to Bedard for most points in a tournament as a 17-year-old.

The Great One did not compete in the juniors at age 17. He did so at 16 and won the scoring title at the 1978 tournament in Montreal with 17 points, including eight goals.

McKenna, like many of the big names before him, will not be content to simply make the team and skate on the ice at TD Place and the Canadian Tire Center in Ottawa. Of course, it will be a thrill for him to put on the Maple Leaf, but he wants to make a difference, something he has done since he was a Timbit player in his hometown of Whitehorse, Yukon in northern Canada.

“I want to play a big role on the team,” said McKenna, who plays in the Western Hockey League with the Medicine Hat Tigers and was named the WHL and Canadian Hockey League rookie of the year after the 2023-24 season. “I want to get some big minutes and I have to earn those minutes. I want to make sure I do everything I can. I have to use my offensive skills to the best of my ability and make the teammates around me better. There is so much talent on that team so I have to make sure I use them and like I said work on my defensive game there because any little mistake against those teams can ruin the tournament for you .”

McKenna and his teammates open the World Juniors on December 26 against Finland, with the tournament running until January 5, when the gold medal match will be played.