Everything Guy Gadowsky said about landing Gavin McKenna: The Penn State pitch, recruiting timeline, and more

Longtime Penn State men’s hockey coach Guy Gadowksy held a media call Tuesday to discuss how the offseason is going ahead of the 2025-2026 season. It was well attended by local, regional, and national reporters for an obvious reason: Gavin McKenna. Getting a chance to hear the Lions leader talk about signing the projected No. 1 2026 NHL Draft pick and reigning CHL Player of the Year was hardly the only reason to tune in. After all, this year’s team is currently the favorite to win the Frozen Four. It returns and adds tons of production. And, it is undoubtedly the most talented roster of the Gadowsky era. Still, the talk was unsurprisingly largely focused on McKenna, who committed to Penn State over Michigan State last Tuesday.

Gadowsky said talks between the two sides started after McKenna’s CHL season ended with a loss in the Memorial Cup Finals on June 1. The standout player, who is taking advantage of a new rule for this season that allows CHL players to compete at the NCAA level for the first time.

RELATED – Read a full recap of Gadowsky’s media call inside of The Lions Den forum

“Obviously, I think there’s mutual interest, but nothing was done until after his season and it was known that he did want to explore the NCAA,” Gadowsky said. “So that’s when you really started looking at it. And as far as the pitch goes, I mean, we feel really good about what Penn State has to offer any student athlete. And so that wasn’t a change. Obviously, this is a huge thing for Penn State and Penn State hockey. And a huge thing for college hockey as well.

“So, you’re nervous until it’s done. But, once it was on SportsCenter and done, it felt very, very good. And I’m pumped for the Penn Staters to get to watch this guy.”

What else did Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said about Gavin McKenna on July 15?

We have a full rundown of all of his comments below.

On the Penn State pitch to McKenna:

“It’s the same for every hockey player that we bring to Penn State into the Pegula Ice Arena,” Gadowsky said. “There’s a lot of things that make Penn State hockey a really attractive program for any potential student athlete. And, we go through all of it. It’s not just one thing. It has to do with how we develop our facilities, the personnel, the philosophy of the administration, the support of the University, and the support of Pegula Ice Arena, the great student body that makes it an incredible atmosphere; there’s a lot of things. So we went through it all.”

On coaching a talent like Gavin McKenna:

“I think one of the things that makes him so special is that he is so creative,” Gadowsky said. “His mind is just very different. And there’s no way that I, or anybody else on our staff, thinks like Gavin does. He is a very, very special athlete who thinks very differently. And, I’m going to enjoy watching him. By no means am I ever going to talk to him about how his mind creates. That’s him, and it’s going to be really fun to watch. And that goes for all of our athletes as well.

“I mean, that’s partly what I think makes Penn State hockey fun is, we certainly encourage creativity. And with him, just watching his game, he’s so fun to watch because of his physical skill level. But also, how his mind is able to slow things down and create is just really fun to watch.”

What should Penn State fans know about Gavin McKenna, the person?

“He’s very humble and extremely polite,” Gadowsky said. “He has excellent manners, and his mind always goes first to the whole like, to the team, always what the team does, how the atmosphere is for the team, the success of the team; that’s how he is. Number one, very, very humble. Number two, extremely polite, has great manners, and is always talking about the good of the whole. That’s how he is.”

What are some of the challenges McKenna could face during his first college season?

“I think a lot of it is, how do we prepare him for that? I mean, college is different,” Gadowsky said. “So there’s a transition. And there’s not only a transition to college hockey. There’s a transition to college. There’s a transition, although, albeit a very exciting, fun one, to State College. All those things. And I think that we have really good players on this team, really good people, and I think they’re looking forward to helping him navigate and enjoy all of those things.

“So what can we do? I think we can be a little patient. You can’t just expect anybody to come in and just pick things up. From a college hockey perspective, a college perspective, or a State College/Penn State perspective. It takes some time. I think it’s something he’s very looking, very much looking forward to, and it’s going to be fun. But I think what we can do is to remember that no one gets it all right away and take some time.”