Gavin McKenna has been named to the Canada Red 2023 World U17 Challenge team.

Canada has two entries in the tournament: the Red team and a White team.

The tourney takes place Nov. 2-11 in Charlottetown and Summerside, P.E.I.

Czechia, Finland, Sweden and the U.S. also have teams participating. Each team plays each other once in the preliminary round. Quarterfinals take place Nov. 9. Semi-finals take place Nov. 10, followed by the gold and bronze medal games on Nov. 11.

McKenna, now six feet and 165 pounds, is currently lighting it up with the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League (WHL).

He leads the Tigers in points with 17 (five goals, 12 assists) in 12 games played in the 2023-2024 season. McKenna, 15, is second in WHL rookie scoring and 14th overall in the league, and is the youngest player on the scoring list.

He is fifth in power play assists in the "Dub" with 8 apples.

According to Elite Prospects, his projected scoring totals this year are 28 goals and 68 assists for 96 points in 68 games.

McKenna is also one of 66 players chosen for Canada's Program of Excellence.

The Star spoke with McKenna's father Willy on Tuesday.

"He got the official word last Monday. At the same time, it just so happened that we were getting requests from Hockey Canada to do a video kind of an interview. So Hockey Canada is coming up today (last Tuesday). And they're going to interview Gavin's old coaches and then me and Krystal and his family. We had that request even before Gavin got the official invite. So we almost had some inside information there. So that would have been about two weeks ago, we found out that news."

McKenna said he was "very excited" for Gavin.

"I'm proud of him for sure. I think his chances were pretty good to make the team but until you get that official confirmation that he was on the team, nothing's for sure. But yeah, it's definitely going to be exciting for him. It'll be the first time wearing the Team Canada jersey. So we're all looking forward to watching him and cheering him on."

McKenna said his son is looking forward to pulling on the Team Canada sweater.

"I think he's just super excited to be a part of a Team Canada team. It's his first time, so it's an opportunity to play with a lot of the top-end players throughout Canada. So that's a bonus and fun for him as well."

McKenna acknowledged that his son being level-headed played a part in his reaction to the news.

"If he was an 'on a bubble player' and there was a lot of question marks whether he'd be on the team or not, maybe we would get more of a reaction out of him but we felt he had a really good chance of making the team and I think he knew that as well, with the early success he's had in the WHL and going first overall in the WHL draft. So therefore, the reaction was probably more even-keeled then it could have been."

Gavin McKenna is scheduled to be in P.E.I. Oct. 30th.

"There is some pre-tournament games, probably a bit of team bonding stuff that'll happen and practices, I would imagine, so he's there a few days before the tournament starts," related the elder McKenna.

McKenna added his son is excited about playing against international competition.

Turning to Gavin McKenna's WHL experience, McKenna said his son has had a really good start to the season and loves Medicine Hat, the team and the coaching staff.

"I don't think we could ask for him to be in a better spot right now and it kind of shows. He is leading his team in scoring and is the youngest on the team by far. He is second in rookie scoring in the whole league. He's doing really well and adjusting to the game."

McKenna said his son is enjoying the consistency of playing for one team this year. Last season, he split time between the Tigers and the South Alberta Hockey Academy in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League (CSSHL). Because of his young age, the amount of games he was eligible to play with "The Hat" was limited.

"He's getting a lot of power play time. He's getting different opportunities that he didn't get last year. And he's got regular line-mates. So I think some of that consistency is helping him out and knowing what the future kind of holds for him, where before he didn't know if he was going to be in a WHL game or in a CSSHL game," said the elder McKenna.

When asked if his son is exceeding his expectations so far, McKenna replied, "I would say he's kind of on par with expectations. You never know how a kid's going to adjust to the WHL, but at the same time, it'll depend on what opportunities the coaches give a young player like Gavin. There's been some expectations or word out there on how many points he could get this year. He's on pace for those, so he's pretty much meeting expectations, in my opinion."

McKenna was asked if he thinks his son is capable of hitting 100 points this year.

"I would say if he wasn't going to miss any games. I'm his dad. So I have really high hopes for him. I think really highly of him. With the U17 tournament, he's gonna miss six WHL games. So that'll hinder his point production. But I don't see why he couldn't get 90 or 100 if he played the whole season, but I'm his dad, right?"

As for whether Gavin could score the WHL Rookie of the Year award this season, McKenna said, "I think he's definitely got a shot at that."

McKenna pointed out that the current WHL rookie points leader, Terik Parascak, who is scoring at a prolific pace with the Prince George Cougars, is a year and a half older than Gavin.

"Prince George is a very good team and they're a high scoring team," McKenna said.

Gavin McKenna has some tough competition in Parascak, who has racked up 25 points in 12 games and leads the league with 15 goals. He's also been named WHL Rookie of the Week three times.

When asked about comparisons of his son to former WHL scoring sensation Connor Bedard, now with the Chicago Blackhawks and regarded as a generational player, McKenna replied "I think the sky's the limit for him. I do think he is one of those types of players. It is a long road. There's still a lot of work for him to do in the future. But if he does continue doing what he's doing, I do think chances are good that he'll gain more and more attention."

"He's already been getting a bunch of attention. I was just on the road with him, watching him and we went down to Kelowna, then Victoria and then over to Vancouver, back up to Kamloops and just the buzz around the rinks and the talk about him and what people are writing in the papers, and he's already at a point where people are using him to draw fans into the rink.

"We'll see what it's like when he's 18, a few years down the road, and we'll go from there."

TSN and RDS will broadcast the medal games. Preliminary-round games, quarterfinals and semifinals will be available by livestream at https://HockeyCanada.ca

The Star will have more on this story in Friday's paper, including what Gavin McKenna thinks about his upcoming opportunity to play for Team Canada.