Penn State Stud Gavin McKenna Stuns With Massive 8-Point Game
Will this performance silence those who think he's not going No.1 in the upcomoing NHL Draft?
It has been a wild couple of weeks for Penn State hockey star Gavin McKenna after the presumptive first-overall pick in the upcoming NHL Draft was slapped with several charges stemming from an incident at a State College bar.
While the most serious of those charges was dropped, you'd think the off-ice situation would impact McKenna's on-ice performance…
…But you'd be mistaken.
Now, in some respects, McKenna's time at Penn State hasn't lived up to expectations. Which, in fairness, were incredibly lofty.
However, he has shown flashes of the greatness people thought he had when he made the jump from the WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers to college hockey, and at no point was that more clear than the game he had on Friday against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
The game at Pegula Ice Arena was McKenna's first home game since the incident, and he got a massive ovation from the fans in Happy Valley.
When the game got underway, it couldn't have been much more of a beating.
The Nittany Lions absolutely annihilated the Buckeyes 11-4 with McKenna logging 8 points.
Seven assists and a goal.
And check out the celly he dropped when he scored.
The Buckeyes are not having a stellar season, but it's not like they're some team of beer leaguers. It goes to show the kind of playmaking ability that McKenna has, and that he can tune out some pretty loud off-ice noise.
Unsurprisingly, after a performance like that, McKenna was named the first star of the night.
As I said, McKenna's play at times this year has led some to question whether he really is at the top of the draft board. I think that's just a lot of talk to make things interesting before he inevitably goes No. 1.
And after Friday, some of the league's bottom feeders, such as the Vancouver Canucks, are going to be licking their chops at the prospect of scoring that top pick.