McKenna has hot day outdoors for Penn State at Beaver Stadium

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Gavin McKenna had no problem finding the spotlight on the biggest stage he's skated on.

In front of 74,575 at Beaver Stadium, the famed home of Penn State's football team, the projected No. 1 pick of the 2026 NHL Draft showcased his high-end offensive skill and tantalizing potential with a goal and two assists for the Nittany Lions in their 5-4 overtime loss against Michigan State on Saturday.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime game, so having this experience, it was special," he said. "Something I'll remember forever."

The exclamation point on his afternoon came at 8:22 of the second period. The 18-year-old was in the center of the offensive zone when teammate Mac Gadowsky found him with a pass. He bobbled it at first, but had time and space to pull the puck out of skates and rifle a shot past Michigan State goalie Trey Augustine (Detroit Red Wings) to tie the score 2-2.

He raced to the boards to celebrate with more passion than any of the other goals he's scored this season.

"I kind of blacked out on that one," McKenna said. "I think just the emotions in that game, obviously, with the crowd, the atmosphere, how tight of a game it was, it's pretty easy to get excited like that."

Happy Valley turned into Hockey Valley, with McKenna taking a leading role.

"There's so much that very justifiably is recognized and written about his talent, and it should be, because it's incredible," Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said. "However, the more I get to be around Gavin, the thing that I love the most is he is so for this team and so for this. He loves being on Penn State campus. He loves being a part of this, and he wants very badly to be a part of it. And you see him, you talk about come up in big moments, and yes he does, but I just love the things ... he does everything that the team wants and that the coaches want to be an example for team play.

"He's a big-moment player. He's an incredible talent. But his desire to help the team is I think what I love most about him."

McKenna had a hand in Penn State's first three goals. He used his touch and vision to slide a short pass to Dane Dowiak, who found Aiden Fink (Nashville Predators) streaking to the net for the first of his two goals, just 13 seconds into the second period.

Then after he scored, he helped Penn State take its first lead of the day when he was first on a puck behind the Michigan State net and found Fink for a one-timer from the slot to make it 3-2 at 16:25 of the second.

"Gavin's a super-smart player, and I know anytime he has the puck, I've always got to be ready for the puck," Fink said. "I saw him have the puck in the corner, and I kind of knew he saw me, and I knew he was going to give it to me."

McKenna talked before the game about outdoor hockey being nothing new to him. Growing up in Whitehorse, Yukon, he spent countless hours skating on a backyard rink, usually with his father, Willy.

But entering through a parade of athletes from other sports and skating onto the ice in front of a crowd of nearly 75,000 people was something entirely different.

"Just the walk out, walking through those gates, was pretty special," he said. "Having football, all those teams, walking through I'm fist-bumping them all. The crowd. It was amazing."

Gadowsky also made sure he took in the moment. He was hired in 2011, tasked with shepherding the program with its move to Division-I status in 2012.

"I went to every coach on our staff and said, 'Look behind you,' because when you looked behind you, it was just absolutely jammed," he said. "And people were into it. I couldn't believe it was a hockey game; I really couldn't. It just blew me away. Constantly, numerous times, every period, would I just look around at the atmosphere and just take it in. I don't know how to explain it.

"It's very, very humbling that I get to be a part of something like this."

In his 15 seasons there's been exponential growth, from the opening of Pegula Ice Arena during the 2012-13 season to the first player being selected in the NHL draft in 2017 and the first Frozen Four appearance last season.

Now an outdoor game at Beaver Stadium feels like another major accomplishment.

Gadowsky said it wasn't until he saw the rink laid out in Beaver Stadium on Wednesday that the weight of the moment hit him.

"I probably didn't think about that until I actually got here on Wednesday and looked around and went, 'Yeah, so much has gone into this,'" he said. "So grateful to everybody that started this program, and so grateful ... that our administration felt we're at a point where we could actually pull this off. And so it is reflecting. I mean, I couldn't help thinking about (Buffalo Sabres owner and program benefactor) Terry Pegula, what he told me 15 years ago. He's like, someday we're going to have top-five teams playing. I'm not sure he thought it'd be in front of 75,000 people, but I know he's very proud.

"Looking around, it's impossible not to reflect on so many people that work so hard and support this program so much."

That Penn State was swept on the weekend, including a 6-3 loss to Michigan State at Pegula Ice Arena on Friday, did little to dampen those feelings.

"This was such an amazing experience," Gadowsky said. "I can tell you, speaking for everybody in our program, we are so grateful that we're in an institution that could pull something like this off. ... To have 75,000 people come out here in the cold, and they stayed the whole time, and they supported us, and it was just an amazing atmosphere.

"Really sorry that we didn't win, but I tell you what, none of us, the players especially, will ever forget this experience. It was incredible, and Penn State is incredible."

Dowiak, Penn State's captain who had three assists playing on the top line with McKenna and Fink, echoed those feelings.

"That was the coolest environment I will ever play in my life, no matter if I make the NHL or not," he said. "That was the coolest thing I've ever seen, ever witnessed, and I just couldn't be prouder to be a Penn Stater and get that opportunity."

McKenna also felt the same way. The 18-year-old is third among NCAA freshmen with 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists) in 24 games, and his average of 1.33 points per game is 11th among all NCAA players. He's No. 1 on NHL Central Scouting's midterm ranking of North American skaters, and likely will be playing in the NHL this time next season.

But for now, he was a college student living in the moment, relishing the spotlight he got to skate in.

"This game, it was special," he said. "The amount of effort people put into this game for us, people traveling in to come watch us play. It was special. To just be a part of this community at Penn State, I'm a forever Penn Stater and that was an amazing time."