Gavin McKenna made history Friday when he became the first-ever Yukoner to be selected as the first overall pick in the NHL entry draft.
McKenna, who grew up in Whitehorse, was cheered on by hometown fans who gathered for a community watch party at Whitehorse’s Takhinni Arena. The crowd erupted with cheers and the clapping of hockey sticks when the 18-year-old left winger donned a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey at the draft in Buffalo, N.Y.
The watch party was organized by Hockey Yukon and also acted as a fundraiser for the Yukon Special Olympics.
Dan Johnson, president of Hockey Yukon, says the community support for the event was better than anything the organization could have hoped for.
“It’s unbelievable, it kind of exceeded our expectations,” he said. “The place is packed [and] it turned out exactly how we wanted it to be.”
Johnson says Hockey Yukon aimed to make the event as family friendly as possible and hundreds of children and parents turned out for the event.
“It’s a very kid and family-oriented event. You see mini stick chaos, you’ve got shooting accuracy, hardest-shot colouring stations,” said Johnson, describing some of the activities set up around the arena’s currently ice-free hockey rink.
“So really, when we started to think about this, we knew this wanted to be a community thing and we couldn’t have asked for a better turnout or a better atmosphere.”
In addition to the hundreds of people who turned out, Johnson says Hockey Yukon received an outpouring of support from more than a dozen local businesses and individuals who lent support in getting the event off the ground.
“That was the easiest part about organizing this,” he said. “Within probably 10 days of deciding that we were going to do this in partnership with the Special Olympics we had sponsorships way beyond what we needed.”
Of course, none of this would have happened without McKenna himself who Johnson says has been a star player off the ice in supporting hockey across the territory.
“Just kudos to Gav himself and the way he’s handled himself,” said Johnson. “Gavin always makes himself available if he’s in town for hockey camps. He understands, I think, how important he is to these kids in the next generation. There’s a lot of kids here who are going to be pretty involved with hockey because of Gavin McKenna.”
When asked how the community feels about the hometown hero going to the Leafs, Johnson says he’s unsure how many people will be donning blue jerseys next season.
“I think the general sentiment is there’s a lot of Gavin fans, we’re not sure how many are gonna go full Leafs, that’s to be determined.”
Contact Noah Korver at noah.korver@yukon-news.com
By Noah Korver, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on Jul 03, 2026 at 12:29
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