McKenna ready for Hockey Valley frenzy in Penn State's outdoor game at Beaver Stadium

Gavin McKenna got the full Beaver Stadium experience for several Penn State football games this season.

But his next visit will be a lot different.

McKenna, the favorite to be the first pick of the 2026 NHL Draft, will help Penn State as it transforms from Happy Valley to Hockey Valley and hosts its first outdoor game, against Michigan State on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; BTN).

"It's going to be a fun time," McKenna said. "Obviously it's never been done before at Penn State. So for us to get that opportunity, it's going to be fun ... it's going to be pretty electric. Everyone you talk to at Penn State sounds like they're going out for that game."

It's an event years in the making.

"The start of it happened I think the day I got hired (in 2011)," Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said. "'When are you guys going to play a hockey game in Beaver Stadium?' It's the most common question that I've had over the past 15 years."

After reaching the Frozen Four last season, and with McKenna's heralded arrival in July, Penn State athletic director Dr. Patrick Kraft and his staff decided it was time.

"I'm very blessed to have an incredible staff to be able to pull something like this off," Kraft said. "We put on one of the largest events in the world on Saturdays here, and our fans are passionate. We knew we had a really good team coming back, and the excitement was at a fever pitch. We kind of just started to do the work. And our [operations] team and our facility folks said, 'Yeah, we can pull this off.' And it really just kind of came together."

The hockey team will lean into the football setting, with special navy blue jerseys modeled after Penn State's football jerseys, featuring no names on the back and white helmets with a navy stripe down the middle. New football coach Matt Campbell will drop the ceremonial first puck.

Not only will the experience be special, it will be an important game for both teams.

Penn State (18-6-0) has won seven straight games after a sweep of Wisconsin last weekend, and climbed to No. 5 in the latest USA Hockey college hockey poll.

Michigan State (19-5-0), 9-1-0 in its past 10 after sweeping Minnesota last weekend, is No. 2.

Michigan State won the first two games between the teams, a sweep Nov. 7-8 at Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing, Michigan, by a combined 7-1 score.

The teams also will play at Pegula Ice Arena on Friday (6 p.m. ET).

"They don’t have vulnerabilities," Gadowsky said. "They do everything really, really well. It's as balanced a hockey team as we’ve seen."

McKenna had one goal in the two games in November, but the 18-year-old has taken his game to another level recently. He scored four goals in the two victories against Wisconsin, including his first collegiate hat trick in a 7-2 win Friday. His empty-net goal in a 3-1 win Saturday extended his goal streak to three games and his point streak to five games (11 points; six goals, five assists), and he was named Big Ten First Star of the Week.

He has 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists) in 22 games, tied for second among NCAA freshmen, and his average of 1.32 points per game is tied for ninth among all players.

Some of that confidence came back with him from the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship, where he was second among all players with 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in seven games with Canada. He had a goal and three assists in a 6-3 win against Finland to help Canada win the bronze medal.

He's No. 1 on NHL Central Scouting's midterm ranking of North American skaters for the 2026 draft.

"In the offensive zone he's a wizard out there and you can see that in his game," Central Scouting vice president Dan Marr said.

Using that wizardry on the outdoor rink at Beaver Stadium won't be new for McKenna. He grew up in Whitehorse, Yukon, playing on the family's backyard rink.

"Just being out there with my dad (Willy)," McKenna said. "He spent a lot of time building that rink over the years, so getting to spend time out there with him, and he's putting me through drills. We play 1-on-1 against each other. Some of the best memories I had growing up was just being out there with him."

McKenna has made lots of fans during his first college season, including some of his Michigan State foes.

"I don't think there should be any question that he's the No. 1 pick," said Spartans forward Porter Martone, who played with McKenna at the World Juniors. "He's so skilled with the puck, and he's a tremendous hockey player."

Martone, selected by the Philadelphia Flyers with the No. 6 pick of the 2025 NHL Draft, is tied for fourth among NCAA freshmen with 28 points (14 goals, 14 assists) in 22 games, and his average of 1.27 points per game is 12th among all players.

"I think he's taken a big step," Flyers general manager Daniel Briere said. "We were happy to see him take a step forward as far as the competition of play, playing against men, bigger, stronger bodies, at the NCAA level. And he's responded really well. I think, for him to realize a little bit what it's like to be a pro, in the gym a lot more and having more time in between games to help develop his body, I think is going to help him tremendously."

Martone also has a lot of experience playing outdoors.

"I have a pond behind my house (in Peterborough, Ontario) that I've always played on since I was a little kid," he said. "I skated on there probably for six hours a day. ... Every Boxing Day (Dec. 26), my whole family would come over, we'd have, like, 50 people out there playing the game. My dad makes three Olympic-size rinks out there. We have a four wheeler, and we flood it ourselves. So I've been doing ever since I was a little kid.

"But I've never played an actual outdoor game with a huge stadium, so that's what I'm getting excited for."

It will be a full weekend of hockey at Beaver Stadium, with the Penn State women's team, which is 24-4-0 and ranked No. 4 nationally, playing Robert Morris University on Friday.

Then comes Saturday, with upwards of 70,000 people expected for the men's game.

"We're really, really proud of our football stadium, Beaver Stadium," Kraft said. "To be able to do this with not only our men's program, but both programs are ranked in the top five and playing at a high level. To showcase hockey here in Hockey Valley, in what I believe is the most iconic venue in all of sport, that's pretty special. Our fans rally really, really well, and that energy, like a big football game, it starts to accelerate itself ... and it'll be at a fever pitch Saturday afternoon. You can feel the excitement and the energy.

"It's a pretty awesome feeling, because I think everyone understands, it's the first time we're doing it and hopefully we can continue to do this type of event. But the first is always something special."