Penn State men’s hockey’s Gavin McKenna has been named a top-10 finalist for the 2026 Hobey Baker Memorial Award. McKenna’s nomination was announced on Wednesday.

McKenna was most recently named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year earlier this morning. He is the first Nittany Lion to be awarded the title. McKenna has also been named to the All-Big Freshman Team and All-Big Second Team, along with freshman Jackson Smith. Another accolade McKenna picked up was the Big Ten Scoring Champion, with 38 points on 11 goals and 27 assists in 24 conference games.

McKenna leads the Big Ten and is second in the nation for scoring with 51 points. He is the first Penn State rookie and only the third Nittany Lion to reach 50 points in a season.

The Whitehorse, Yukon, native averages 1.50 points per game, leading the conference and second in the country. He has 15 goals and 36 assists on the season. He scored his first goal against Arizona State after he recorded his first collegiate assist the night before.

The rookie is projected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. He joins Aiden Fink as the only two Nittany Lions to be selected as a top-10 finalist. Fink recorded 52 points last season to catapult his status as a Hobey Baker Finalist.

The top three Hobey Baker finalists will be named on April 2, and the winner will be revealed at the Frozen Four on April 10 in Las Vegas.

Folks can vote for McKenna here.

About the Author

Alex Smith

Alex is a fourth-year Print and Digital Journalism student from Sarasota, Florida. Alex is a huge Tampa Bay sports fan and even has a cat named Kucherov. You can contact her at afs6864@psu.edu.

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