Feb. 6: The felony charge against McKenna has been withdrawn by Pennsylvania prosecutors, according to Ryan Graffius and Gary Sinderson of WJAC. He is still facing a misdemeanor charge of simple assault and summary offenses for harassment and disorderly conduct.
Feb. 5: McKenna’s court date will be Wednesday, February 11, per a media release from the State College, Pennsylvania, police department.
Feb. 4: Projected 2026 first-overall pick and Penn State University winger Gavin McKenna was arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault on Saturday night, per court documents obtained by The Athletic. McKenna reportedly got into an altercation with another individual during a private team event on Saturday night, says Mike McMahon of College Hockey News. McMahon further reported in his newsletter that McKenna broke the other individual’s jaw with a punch. No information has been released on McKenna’s court arraignment – and no statement has been released by the school.
McKenna is a Nittany Lions star who currently leads the school’s men’s hockey team in scoring with 32 points in 24 games. He is in his freshman season and on a record-setting NIL deal after winning the WHL Championship with the Medicine Hat Tigers last season. McKenna scored 41 goals and 129 points in 56 games in his final WHL season. He became the third U18 player to score 120 points in the WHL since 2000, joining Connor Bedard (143 points, 2023) and Nic Petan (120 points, 2013). Those marks made McKenna the first blue-chip recruit to pursue the NCAA after the league began allowing CHL talent.
Now, it appears the remainder of McKenna’s draft season could be drawn into question. The dynamic winger is a star scorer when he’s on the ice, with flashy stickhandling and sharp vision. He has improved his ability to play a physical, 200-foot game as part of the Big Ten, though that growth could soon be overshadowed by pressing legal challenges. Pro Hockey Rumors will update this story with further information as it becomes available.
If the rumored reason for the charges ends up true, I’d think it likely gets pleaded down in court and doesn’t affect his draft position much, or his hockey career in general. Standing up for his Mom = okay by me.
“If true”, of course.
I did read based on the charges he faces if convicted of all couldspend 20 years in jail.
That’s not the way that works. He is not actually facing any jail time. Probably dismissed if stays out of trouble for one year.
Nobody gets 20 years for punching someone. Maybe murder
Let alone a 19 year old white kid who is famous.
He will settle
That will obviously never, ever happen. He won’t sniff jail time.
Was he drinking underage? Might be the only charge he gets let’s be honest.
could but sounds very unlikely, sounds more like plea deal for a suspended sentence which would mean he’d only serve time if he violates parole or an out of court settlement which essentially would keep the misdemeanor on his record but he’d probably owe some money instead
Tell us more about the huge advantages of being white.
Advantages of being white = few
Advantages of being rich and talented = all
Alright, now I’m curious. Where did you hear that he was standing up for his mother?
If it’s true, honestly in most of human history in most places getting a broken jaw for degrading someone’s mother is considered consequences not a crime. Even in the UFC, a sport about punching people, talking about a fighter’s kids, wife, or parents is crossing the line. And for those trying to make this about race, if Melo punched KG after his fruit loops comment or whatever it was about Melo’s wife, I would’ve cheered Melo on.
Will Smith can attest to this
@Nha Trang I can’t post links here because they’ll be blocked by “moderation” but if you search reddit for ‘mckenna mom’ or google similar searches you should get the gist of it. Allegedly (and that word is doing a lot of heavy lifting so far) a drunk guy at a bar where a team function was taking place was persistently saying degrading things about Gavin’s mom, people tried de-escalating it unsuccessfully, Gavin punched the guy twice after leaving the bar.
Tbf, he’s not fully white. His mom is native
ofc being an athlete plays a role but also being a first time offender in this situation sounds like the felony was also possibly dropped based on witness testimony of the fight starting over the other guy’s comments or perhaps the other guy may have been deemed the aggressor
Then the question has to be asked. What was a College Team function where there under age people doing being held at a bar? Hopefully it will be on an episode of Live PD.
Plus so far the whole thing is proceeding pretty much how I expected.
His player comp went from Paul Kariya to Allen Iverson.
when you update this story with further information, maybe run a quick spell check too.
“Tank for McKenna” indeed.
Athletes at any prominent level are told “don’t take the bait” when it comes to public confrontation, no matter if you’re in the right or not. PSU will smooth this over, but it’s not worth tanking a future over some dumb windbag looking for trouble.
I can picture the exact type too. Drunk jock who thinks the hotshot athlete won’t risk escalating it, so he’ll look like a tough guy in front of his bros and impress some girls, instead gets his lunch fed to him. Now he’ll be drinking future lunches through a straw for weeks while his jaw’s wired shut. Whoops.
No reason to speculate without the facts.
He may have punched a creepy clown for all we know.
@Rollie: Yep. Hope it was worth the concussion, lost teeth, and smashed jaw for that fellow.
What type of girls are impressed by a drunk moron ragging on another guy’s mom?
@ seacaptain77 – the tough guy wannabe type I’m thinking of is too dumb to realize that the answer to your question is: none.
dang, I thought I might have learned a new move :(
Kids make mistakes, Ask Chris Pronger. In this case, I don’t see a crime.
Guys willing to go to jail to avoid playing for the Canucks.
It’s the rangers he’s avoiding. He’s seen what they’ve been doing lately.
@wreckage This is a classic response. Love it.
It doesn’t say it was another player. Private team event? That covers a lot of ground.
The team was in a private room and some kid called McKenna’s mom a whour. McKenna broke the kids jaw in retaliation.
Thought it might be a Frat party and he got pushed over doing a keg stand. Or that TV commercial where the guy says hold my bowl. When I was in College that meant something entirely different and was hardly ever heard unless the Cops came. Because if you let it go you never got it back.
Covers a lot of ice in this case >.>
So your saying the kid has a punch on him. In a sport that allows fighting sounds like stock value increased.
Kid can fight and score. I’ll take him!
So everyone knows you can easily get in his head and he’ll make stupid decisions. How is that supposed to improve his draft stock?
He punched him in his newsletter?
I thought the same thing; and for some reason couldn’t stop laughing when I read it out loud
A seminal moment in the history of American sportswriting.
Poor newsletter
😆
That newsletter had it coming! 🤣
Pretty hard to believe anything anymore coming from a NY Times affiliated publication.
The bankrupt ny times?
A potential 1st overall pick that can score and fight… hope he drops down to the Kings!
From Penn State to State Pen
His days in the NCAA are probably over since there is zero tolerance for that type of behavior in college.
He wont be drafted if convicted and the way Trump is going he will also end up deported as well.
Any conviction at this point is bad news and probably a end to his days in the NCAA, NHL, and United States.
You are so far out of touch with reality.
He’s white. Of course he’s not going to be deported.
And seriously? The NCAA has zero tolerance for star athletes getting into trouble with the law? Since *when*?
Parody account?
@nha
The ncaa has always had a zero tolerance policy or lack of one depending on my narrative at the current moment
Look it was stupid but 18 year olds are stupid. It might drop his draft stock with some teams but I highly doubt his College career is over because of it unless of course he chooses it to be after the draft. If it was a first offense he probably gets a huge probation sentence and he’ll probably get sued by the guy he hit but all that is to be determined. Penn State is another matter. They might pull his scholarship. But I doubt it.
@I wander off LOL
LEGEND
So amazed by all those comments somehow justifying a felony battery where someone was seriously injured. Incredible to see such dismissive comments of seriously bad behavior. 95% of felony batteries done by individuals with no criminal records spend anywhere between 120 days and 6 months in jail. I can assure anyone who would do the same in a bar to another person would be in a world of trouble. Most ‘regular persons’ doing so also subsequently lose their jobs as their employers use behavioral clauses & policies to terminate employment. McKenna won’t be as unfortunate. McKennas actions are seriously bad for hockey’s cultural reputation.
@Karlander LOLOLOLOL
To Iwanderoff and Karlander. Are you guys kidding me? This was a fight between 2 college kids where one said something stupid and the other did something stupid and you guys have him deported, Going to Alcatraz and never being able to work again. Anything else you wanna toss on the kid? Are you guys from here? And by here I mean Earth.
Takes a real moron to justify a felony battery. That’s not how the law works in these cases.
You’re the fool. The guy who got hit isn’t going to press charges. Because what good is McKenna in jail? The State might file charges but the guy isn’t going to testify and the case will go away setting up the Civil suit where the real money is. The guy wants money not vengeance. This is real life not Batman. Put the comic books down.
Punching someone in the mouth after they verbally abuse their mother is pretty much what most people physically able will do. Your holier than thou schtick is weak.
“Felony battery” :D :D :D
He did nothing wrong. Any decent person would do the same.
Mr. Broken jaw was more than likely trying to be a bad boy like others have suggested and got tuned up!!! Now he’s butt hurt and sure ligation is on his mind and that is a sad little man!! End of story.
This makes me want him on my team even more.
Question is: Will he be a Bedard or a Petan?
Better. Not Celibrini level a Real star; but Bedard level should be easily achievable.
How many shifts in the show before someone bigger and tougher than him tells him his mom is a wh*re?
Yeah, the chirpers are going to start calling him “Hanrahan.”
Hanrahan’s wife was a word that rhymes with Mike. LOL