VANTAA, FINLAND - MAY 2: Canada's Maxim Masse and Gavin McKenna celebrate after scoring during the Canada vs Latvia Quarterfinal Round action at the 2024 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship (Chris Tanouye/IIHF6)

By Lisa Parent

Gavin McKenna ties U18 World Championship Team Canada point record

May 2, 2024 | 3:14 PM

Tigers forward Gavin McKenna is in Finland right now, playing for an undefeated Team Canada in the 2024 IIHF World U18 Championship.

After Thursday’s quarter final game, McKenna officially tied the record for most points scored by a Canadian at the world championship.

As the youngest player on Team Canada, McKenna has accumulated 15 points over five games, second highest in the entire tournament.

Head coach of the Medicine Hat Tigers Willie Desjardins said he has been watching McKenna closely on television.

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“Usually when I’m on the bench, I’m worried about a lot of other things and I can’t just really enjoy him and watch how he plays, so it’s kind of nice to be able to just sit back and watch him play and how good he is,” Desjardins told CHAT News.

Team Canada heads into the semi-finals Saturday and 16-year-old McKenna will have two more games to break the Canadian record.

Desjardins hopes that playing for Team Canada helps increase McKenna’s confidence and give him the opportunity to learn from the other strong players there.

“Team Canada is pretty amazing and for him to not only be playing, but playing the way he’s playing is pretty exceptional,” Desjardins said.

Team Canada will play Sweden Saturday at 9 a.m. MST live on TSN.