Gavin McKenna, looking happy. (Photo: Jason Malloy, SaltWire Network)

Gavin McKenna, the presumptive first overall selection in next year’s NHL Entry Draft, was a superstar with the Medicine Hat Tigers last season. He filled highlight reels and lifted the team into the Memorial Cup — all with plenty of eligibility left in his junior hockey career. 

And now, he is gone.  

McKenna committed to play at Penn State University. He has his own player bio page now, with Medicine Hat listed in the footnotes of his personal history. The 17-year-old university freshman has become the face of a movement nobody yet fully understands.  

The NCAA upended the entire developmental landscape last year when it amended rules to grant eligibility to junior hockey players. Schools can give money — in large sums — to all of their biggest stars.  

What does this mean for the future of junior hockey in Canada? What incentive would any promising player have to remain with a small-market team when a big-name school calls with a big-time offer?  

Writing in the Toronto Sun, Dan Barnes explores these questions, along with many more. 

“Will there be serious sticker shock for junior hockey teams in Swift Current, Owen Sound, Val d’Or and other small Canadian cities because they simply cannot outspend an NCAA rival for the services of their budding young stars?” Barnes asks. "Will the traditional junior hockey roster makeup and player development paths be forever altered by the flow of money through the NCAA?” 

You can read the answers right here.

Mike Brophy, who covered the Peterborough Petes for the Examiner before moving on to work at outlets such as The Hockey News and Sportsnet, needed a new kidney. Disease had ravaged his own, and he spoke about his struggles earlier this year.  

“I could never look someone in the eye and say ‘can I have your kidney?’” he told Examiner reporter Mike Davies. "I couldn’t do that.” 

On July 31, his life changed.  

Brophy received a life-saving donation.  

The 68-year-old received a kidney from his former sister-in-law.  

“Each day I wake up and I feel a little bit stronger than the day before,” Brophy tells Davies. “I know I have a recovery process to go through but based on the way I’m improving every day, I feel like I’m one of the lucky ones.” 

You can read the full story right here.

How Owen Sound thrives in a small market. (Photo courtesy Allison Davies)

It can be easy to forget that the Owen Sound Attack, the smallest of the small-market OHL franchises, play in a town with a population that could nearly squeeze into London’s home arena.  

The Attack exist not as a money-maker, but as a symbol of civic pride.  

Writing in the Sun Times, Greg Cowan examines the relationship between the town and its team, and how it manages to survive in an era of increasingly big budgets.  

“The team doesn’t make a lot of money," owner Dr. Bob Severs tells Cowan. "It does OK, we keep our head above water, but the ownership doesn’t take any money out of the team. 

“If we have a small profit, and sometimes we do with a good playoff run, then that money just gets redirected into some kind of community effort or to support something going on in the community.” 

You can give the full story a read right here.

Easton Cowan: Maple Leafs prospect, and selfie-taker. (Photo: Mike Hensen, The London Free Press)

Writing in the London Free Press, Adshayah Sathiaseelan highlights part of the journey that Easton Cowan has taken toward a career in professional hockey. Hint: It has been eventful, even by the standards of other 20-year-old phenoms.  

The long-time London Knights standout is a Toronto Maple Leafs prospect who has won the Memorial Cup and appeared in the world junior championship. He has also seen the darker side of sports, having become a target for online abuse while representing Canada.  

“With (Mitch) Marner now in Vegas, the door is open for a young winger to step into Toronto’s roster," Sathiaseelan writes. “Cowan knows there’s talk about whether he’ll start with the Leafs or the Toronto Marlies, but says he’s heading into training camp with optimism and a clear goal of making the NHL his home now and for good.” 

Toronto selected Cowan 28th overall at the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.  

“I feel like I’m getting closer and closer to my first NHL game,” Cowan tells Sathiaseelan. “That’s always what I’ve dreamed of, to play in the NHL. As soon as I get my first game, that would be great, but you’ve got to stick there and make it a career.” 

You can read the full story right here.

(Photo: Mark Malone, Chatham Daily News)

Is it too early to start face-punching in August?

Sarnia's Easton Walos and London's Cohen Bidgood didn't wait for Labour Day to start throwing punches.

They exchanged pleasantries during a pre-season game at Progressive Auto Sales Arena in Sarnia, Aug. 30.