UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men’s ice hockey team closed out its 14th season as a varsity program with its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance at the end of March and recently announced its 2025-26 team awards.
Penn State finished the year with a 21-14-2 record marking its seventh 20-win season over the first 14 years of the program all of which have come in the last 11 years. The 21 wins are tied for the third-most in a single-season in program history. The Nittany Lions advanced to their fifth NCAA Tournament falling to Minnesota-Duluth, 3-1, in the Albany Regional semifinals. Penn State concluded the campaign ranked No. 11 in both national polls.
In total five team voted awards were distributed including the ninth annual Team Culture Award as well as Team MVP, Top Defenseman, Freshman of the Year, and the Players’ Player. The team also recognized its leading scorer, top student-athlete and the Iron Lion, which praises the top performer in the weight room.
Freshman phenom Gavin McKenna (Whitehorse, Yukon) was voted Team MVP and Freshman of the Year, along with being the top scorer, after setting nine Penn State records. McKenna finished the year as just the third Nittany Lion all-time to hit the 50-point mark in a single season as he set the freshman single-season record with 51 points, the second-most all-time on 15 goals and another single-season record 36 assists.
McKenna finished the season third in the Big Ten and tied for fifth nationally with his 51 points while his 36 assists were good for second nationally only behind Michigan’s Michael Hage. The rookie also set the Penn State record by averaging 1.46 points per game, a mark good for tops in the Big Ten and second in the nation.
The Whitehorse, Alberta native was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year along with landing on the All-Big Ten Second Team and being unanimously voted to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. He was also Penn State’s second Hobey Baker Top-10 Finalist and just the fourth All-American in program history.
McKenna is likely to be the top player selected in the upcoming 2026 NHL Draft in Buffalo at the end of June.
Fellow freshman Jackson Smith (Calgary, Alberta) was voted as the 2025-26 Top Defenseman by his peers after leading all Big Ten defensemen with 11 goals and 26 points on the season. Those totals tied for fourth and 13th in the nation while his 11 goals set a new single-season Penn State record for goals by a defenseman.
Smith joined McKenna on both the All-Big Ten Second Team and the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.
Junior captain Dane Dowiak (Pittsburgh, Pa.) was named both the Players’ Player and Iron Lion for the second-straight year along with also being voted as the Culture Award winner for the 2025-26 season. The Player’s Player is awarded to the player who best exemplifies work ethic and commitment to Penn State hockey’s on ice objectives while the Culture Award is presented annually since 2017-18 to the student-athlete who best influences a positive culture of quality and values off the ice.
Dowiak was on pace to better his career-best season of 2024-25 as he had registered nine goals and nine assists for 18 points in 27 games before his year was cut short with a season-ending upper body injury.
Dowiak will be back for his senior season in 2026-27 as one of the leading scorers returning for the Nittany Lions as they look to make a return trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Sophomore Keaton Peters (Sussex, Wis.), who missed the entire season with a lower body injury, was named the Top Student-Athlete.
2025-26 Penn State Team Awards
Team MVP: Gavin McKenna
Top Defenseman: Jackson Smith
Freshman of the Year: Gavin McKenna
Players' Player: Dane Dowiak
Culture Award: Dane Dowiak
Top Scorer: Gavin McKenna
Top Student-Athlete: Keaton Peters
Iron Lion: Dane Dowiak