{"id":220463,"date":"2025-10-02T14:52:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T14:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/220463\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T14:52:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T14:52:11","slug":"penn-state-arizona-state-hockey-to-get-worldwide-spotlight-this-weekend-for-gavin-mckennas-debut-heres-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/220463\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn State-Arizona State hockey to get worldwide spotlight this weekend for Gavin McKenna’s debut; here’s how"},"content":{"rendered":"

Penn State hockey, which is No. 5 in the preseason polls, will play on a national and worldwide stage when it opens its 2025-2026 season this weekend at No. 14 Arizona State<\/a>. A partnership between the Sun Devils, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC), and the NHL announced Wednesday will allow fans to watch top draft prospect and new Nittany Lion forward Gavin McKenna\u2019s debut on NHL Network and on the NHL\u2019s YouTube feed<\/a>. Puck drop is set for 10 p.m. ET on Friday and 8 p.m. ET on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game feed and call will be provided courtesy of FOX 10 Phoenix (Tyler Paley, play-by-play and Alex Coil, color analyst) with NHL Network\u2019s studio team presenting all pre-puck drop and post-game coverage on NHL platforms as well as intermission reports for both games,\u201d the NHL said in a news release. <\/p>\n

\u201cNHLN Host\u00a0Tony Luftman\u00a0and analyst\u00a0E. J. Hradek\u00a0will provide extensive coverage for Friday\u2019s game, while\u00a0Erika Wachter\u00a0and\u00a0Kevin Weekes\u00a0will have all the news and analysis during Saturday\u2019s matchup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penn State has been the talk of the hockey world ever since it landed McKenna, who is the reigning CHL Player of the Year and projected No. 1 2026 NHL Draft pick, over the summer. He is seen as a once-in-a-generation player. He is able to play college hockey only after the NCAA lifted its ban on CHL alums for the 2025-2026 season.<\/p>\n

More: How much are tickets to Penn State-Michigan State hockey at Beaver Stadium?<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot less time and space,\u201d McKenna said on Tuesday at the Lions\u2019 media day,\u00a0per NHL.com<\/a>. \u201cThe guys are bigger, faster, older. It\u2019s not too different in terms of skill and stuff. Obviously both leagues are very skilled, and guys can make plays and stuff. But in terms of speed and size, I think that\u2019s the biggest difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think where I\u2019m going to be challenged is probably just the little amount of games, going from 68 games in a year to 33. That\u2019s going to be obviously a challenge. I love the game, and itch to play games. With that, though, the reason I came here is because [of] less games, more time in the gym. I\u2019m not a big guy. So, I want to put on weight. And, that was part of the reason I came here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added longtime Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe does think the game differently. He\u2019s a different animal when it comes to that, not only compared to any other freshman, just compared to anybody. He thinks the game in a very unique, quite amazing way. And you can see that when there\u2019s drills that are game specific, that have a lot of traffic, he just somehow uses time and space in a very unique, just-make-it-so-easy way. So that\u2019s been fun to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penn State hockey, which is No. 5 in the preseason polls, will play on a national and worldwide…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[5,20655],"class_list":{"0":"post-220463","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-regwall"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115305142608209472","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}