Revised - Gavin McKenna is lighting it up at the U18 World Championships in Finland.

McKenna, a left wing, started out the Champs with two goals against Sweden.

He had a strong game overall. His role in the defensive zone was staying high on the wall and moving the puck out of the zone towards his teammates.

McKenna started his scoring spree with Canada’s first power play goal of the tournament to make it 3-1 for the good guys at 15:24 of the first period.

He’s playing on the first power play unit, lined up on the right side, free for one-timers with his left-hand shot, which is where he scored his first goal from.

McKenna followed it up with another goal at 17:09 of the first, faking a shot and then putting the puck up high on the glove side of Sweden’s goaltender Love Harenstam.

The young phenom had several chances for a hat trick goal, including on a breakaway that he tried to goal five-hole on.

McKenna’s exploits prompted TSN U18 Worlds commentator Craig Button (also known as TSN’s director of scouting) to say that if you can find a better player his age, Button will go get him on a unicycle.

McKenna’s second goal ended up being the game-winning goal.

Better still, he was named Canada’s Player of the Game, a huge honour for the player that is the youngest on the team.

After the game, McKenna said, “It’s something you dream of growing up. I had the honour to wear the jersey at (the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge) and now to get another opportunity, it’s so surreal. I had so many jerseys growing up that I wore, watching World Juniors and U18s, and now to be playing in it, is super-cool.”

McKenna, 16, was also part of the number one line, dubbed the 3M line, with captain Porter Martone and Roger McQueen. Unfortunately for McQueen, he suffered a tourney-ending injury.

Martone and McKenna seemed to develop instant chemistry. In fact, going into Tuesday’s game against Khazikstan, they were co-leaders on Team Canada with eight points apiece.

After the Sweden game, TSN analyst Dave Reid said McKenna “is going to be the offensive catalyst for this team.”

McKenna finished the game with the two goals, four shots and was +1 in 14:16 of ice time.

Next up for Canada was a date with Czechia.

McKenna got the primary assist on Canada’s fourth goal, a power play marker, coming into the zone and making a pass to Til Iginla (Jerome’s son) in the slot, who buried it.

Of note, McKenna is also the player bringing the puck into the zone on the “slingshot” on the power play, or the player who receives a pass back, usually from a defencemen, and then rushes the puck up the ice into the zone. An important role like that is an indication of McKenna’s speed and skill with the puck.

McKenna rounded out Canada’s scoring with a last-minute goal at 59:19 to complete a 6-0 victory over Czechia.

He also drew an assist on a goal by Malcolm Spence earlier in the third.

After the game, McKenna said, “Lines are getting switched up with guys in and out of the penalty box. I think we’ve done a good job of sticking with it. Our penalty kill has done a great job bringing our team energy, which brings success and (Carter) George obviously played great by making some huge saves on the penalty kill.”

His final stat line read one goal, two assists, two shots and +2 in 13:34 of ice time.

Canada had much tougher sledding against Switzerland, as they were outshot 15-6 in the first period, with the Swiss hitting the bar twice, but goalie Ryerson Leenders stood on his head until Canada got their feet underneath them.

After Canada fell behind 1-0 in the second, following a goal by Canada’s Kashawn Aitcheson 10 seconds after the Swiss goal, McKenna brought the crowd out of their seats with a tremendous end-to-end rush, cutting in toward the Swiss goal. Swiss goalie Christian Kirsch made the initial save, but McKenna, who smartly stayed in front of the net, stuffed home the rebound for his fourth goal of the tournament.

Another McKenna rush resulted in Martone batting the puck in off a rebound of a McKenna shot that made it 4-1 Canada.

McKenna added an assist on another Martone goal in the last minute of the second period.

His stat line against the Swiss read one goal, two assists, three shots and +2. Of note, McKenna’s ice time went way up to 19:44.

McKenna’s father Willy said, “Gavin’s play thus far has been turning a lot of heads and he has really been making a name for himself.”

Canada dominated Kazakstan 11-3 Tuesday, outshooting them 66-16.

McKenna led the way with two goals, four assists, six shots and was +2 in 17:09 of ice time.

He was also named Canada’s Player of the Game for the second time in the tournament.

He is now Canada’s leading scorer and the second-leading scorer in the tournament with six goals and eight assists, as well as +7.

Canada finished atop Group B with a 4-0 record.

McKenna talked about playing with Martone.

“I think we look for each other when our line gets called. We find ways to get open and Porter (Martone) is an unbelievable player. There’s a reason he was chosen to wear the ‘C’, he’s a great team guy and I love playing with him.”

He then looked ahead to a quarterfinal matchup versus Lativa Thursday.

“It’s going to be the biggest game of our tournament so far. We’re just going to come out strong, make sure we’re ready, hydrated and getting the rest we need. There are no days off and no easy games, and we know it will be a battle against them. We’ll be ready to give it our all.”

– With files from Hockey Canada