Penn State's Gavin McKenna to play for Team Canada at world championships

The ever impressive Gavin McKenna has continued to to garner a massive amount of accolades over the course of his freshman season with the Nittany Lions. Now, he will be rewarded for it on one of the game's biggest stages. McKenna is now set to represent Team Canada in the IIHF World Championships before going on the be the likely No. 1 pick in the upcoming NHL draft.

For McKenna, this is a perfect audition for the NHL as he will be playing alongside and against some of the NHL's biggest stars after one of college hockey's greatest ever freshman seasons. Not only is he now the first Penn State player to even compete in. these championships, but he could also their first ever No. 1 pick. He has already set almost 10 program records and also reached the 50 point mark in his lone season with the team.

He set the program assist record with 36 and broke several freshman records, including points scored with 51. He also averaged 1.46 points per game, a Penn State record as well. To top it all off, he also earned several of the Big Ten's most prestigious honors, including Freshman of the Year, second team All-Big Ten, and a unanimous selection the All-Freshman Big Ten team. Most impressively however, was that he was named only the second Nittany Lion ever to be nominated for the Hobey Baker Award.

Now, it will be up to McKenna to continue to prove his worth to NHL teams on one of the biggest national stages of his career. The sky's the limit for one of Penn State's best ever.

This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Gavin McKenna to play for Team Canada