"What The Hell, My Son Is In The NHL" -- Gavin McKenna's Mom Is Still Nothing But A Hockey Mom At Heart
Everybody that follows the sport of hockey has known for years that Gavin McKenna would be making his NHL debut on opening night of the 2026-27 season. Pretty much from the time he was granted exceptional status to play for Medicine Hat when he was 14-years-old. So nothing about Gavin McKenna taking his rookie lap last night in Toronto should be shocking to anybody in the slightest.
Except for Gavin McKenna's mom.
Because to her, he's not a top NHL prospect since the time he's been a teenager. He's not a 1st overall draft pick to her. He's still just the boy that she was driving to practice at 6:30 in the morning with half of his gear on in the car. The boy who she was taking to tournaments, and having the rest of the guys on the team over at their house after games.
One moment you're standing in Takhini Arena in Whitehorse watching your son play for Yukon Zone U15 team, then you blink and all of a sudden you're watching him warm up in Scotiabank Arena for the Toronto Maple Leafs. That has to be a crazy feeling for a hockey mom when you see that all those miles driven in the car and hours spent at the rink pay off like that.
And fortunately it looks like nobody in Toronto had anything nasty to say to Mrs. McKenna because we've all seen how quick Gavin is to punch someone's lights out if he has to defend his mom.
Sidenote: I've seen a lot of people shitting on Bobrovsky for coming out of the tunnel first last night. Goalies are a bunch of weirdos whose brains are wired like a pair of headphones that have been in your pocket for a few hours. If Bobrovsky has some weird superstition about being the first one on the ice to start a season, just let him be.
Didn't work out last night and the Leafs lost 3-2. But I wouldn't mess with goalie brains.