Top prospect Gavin McKenna reportedly faces possible felony charges

[mjd1001]

State College police charged McKenna, 18, with felony aggravated assault “attempts to cause SBI or causes injury with extreme indifference”, misdemeanor simple assault, and two summary offenses, including disorderly conduct and harassment. If found guilty, McKenna faces up to 20 years in prison on the felony charge alone.

 

Full article here:  https://onwardstate.com/2026/02/04/gavin-mckenna-facing-felony-charges-over-incident-at-doggies/

 

Haven't seen it anywhere else yet, so lets hope (or not hope) this is legit. (hope its a legit article/source, but at the same time hope its not true.)

Edited Wednesday at 09:57 PM by mjd1001

[inkman]

Something something, ploy for the Avalanche to be able to draft him late in the first, yada yada. 

[EM88]

I am pretty sure that him being such a highly regarded prospect he will not face anything close to the maximum penalty for anything he may have done. Leagues usually have a way of making that happen.

The alleged charges do seem to be pretty serious.  It is not just one charge, but multiple charges.  The area and community likely knowing who he is, one could wonder if there is a chance what he was charged with vs what actually happened might have the actual current charges be less than what they could have been for "Joe Average".

Edited Wednesday at 10:11 PM by EM88

[Second Line Center]

 

[PromoTheRobot]

25 minutes ago, Second Line Center said:

 

A little light on details. No explanation of what precipitated the alleged assault?

[Taro T]

6 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

A little light on details. No explanation of what precipitated the alleged assault?

Same source for both posts.  No data on whether the source is credible or not nor whether the information is accurate or not.

Merely pointing out that both the article and the post are from the same source.

[Second Line Center]

Being reported on ESPN now.  News alert.  

[Flashsabre]

https://www.tsn.ca/ncaa/article/psus-mckenna-facing-felony-assault-charge/
broke a guy’s jaw in a fight after the outdoor game.

[Second Line Center]

 

Take it for what it’s worth.  Internet speculation 

 

 

[msw2112]

If the information is true that a guy was calling his mom a ***** and refused to back off when others tried to diffuse the situation, he deserved what he got and I have no issue with what McKenna did.  I think most of us would do the same.

[Taro T]

8 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

If the information is true that a guy was calling his mom a ***** and refused to back off when others tried to diffuse the situation, he deserved what he got and I have no issue with what McKenna did.  I think most of us would do the same.

Sadly, if the details stated in the thread above are accurate, few felony assault statutes are written such that "dumb arse richly deserved the beating he got" is a get out of jail free card.

Edited Wednesday at 11:52 PM by Taro T

[Archie Lee]

16 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

If the information is true that a guy was calling his mom a ***** and refused to back off when others tried to diffuse the situation, he deserved what he got and I have no issue with what McKenna did.  I think most of us would do the same.

If the story is true, can a player go higher than 1st overall?

Edited Thursday at 12:01 AM by Archie Lee

[pastajoe]

At least he won’t need a tough line mate to protect him.

[msw2112]

22 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Sadly, if the details stated in the thread above are accurate, few felony assault statutes are written such that "dumb arse richly deserved the beating he got" is a get out of jail free card.

That's true, but McKenna will have good lawyers and most prosecutors (not all, for certain) are willing to deal, particularly in a case where the PR may go against them.  No way something like this would ever get to a jury, but if it did, they would likely side with the reasonable position (that the dumb arse got what he deserved).  Prosecutors and jury members have moms too.

Regardless of what happens legally, IF the story as presented is true, this will have zero impact on his draft status.

Edited Thursday at 12:14 AM by msw2112

[Taro T]

Just now, msw2112 said:

That's true, but McKenna will have good lawyers and most prosecutors (not all, for certain) are willing to deal, particularly in a case where the PR may go against them.  No way something like this would ever get to a jury, but if it did, they would likely side with the reasonable position (that the dumb arse got what he deserved).  Prosecutors and jury members have moms too.

Along those lines, it is pretty rare for rich people (or in his case, soon to be rich people) to end up doing time for felony assault.

[HumanSlinky39]

Seems like kind of extreme measures to avoid being drafted by the Canucks 

Edited Thursday at 12:38 AM by HumanSlinky39

[LGR4GM]

No new info here:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7022474/2026/02/04/gavin-mckenna-felony-charges-arrested-penn-state-hockey/

Just more confirmation that something happened.

[pastajoe]

7 minutes ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

Seems like kind of extreme measures to avoid being drafted by the Canucks 

The league will make sure it’s Toronto or the Rangers turn to win the lottery.

[PromoTheRobot]

 

[kas23]

The dude got into a fight. Doesn’t seem worthy of a felony. Did he use any weapons besides his fist? Misdemeanor and give him some community service. 

[Dude]

5 minutes ago, kas23 said:

The dude got into a fight. Doesn’t seem worthy of a felony. Did he use any weapons besides his fist? Misdemeanor and give him some community service. 

Say what?

[inkman]

I have my doubts as to the authenticity of the info but fyi 

 

[shrader]

Can he go back to his junior team? His Penn State days are probably done. And that’s if this can be cleared up in a very short timeframe. 

[Wyldnwoody44]

$hit talking a hockey players mom.... Smart move. 

I know that physical assault in response to verbal isn't warranted and usually isn't a typical defense. I'm curious to see how this plays out. 

[...]

Felony assault is dished out for every bar fight where someone gets knocked out? Why aren't the prisons full of these testosterone-laden violent brutes?