The Pomp And Joe Show
Penn State forward, projected No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna facing charges
05 Feb 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
I'm surprised nobody's complimenting me on my haircut yet.
It looks wonderful. That's tight. Yeah, now you say it, Bob.
Only a couple left. That's true. They took out the thing. Colic?
What? A colic? Do you have a colic?
Like the little cow.
That's something that goes in the wrong direction. It goes opposite the grain.
No, there's a thing at Sport Clips that's like...
they shave the head your head right down to the to the skin wood yeah it's like a foil thing have you heard of that limits no honestly yeah so i'm basically bald on the sides and in the back and then i have a nice little wisp of hair on top bob i think it's rather it looks really good yeah yeah do you agree with that i wouldn't have noticed you got your hair cut just because i know
You're getting there, Tyler. You're starting to thin out just a little.
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Chapter 2: What incident is Gavin McKenna involved in?
This one right out of The Athletic from our friend Sean Gentile, which just gives sort of the outline of what's known from the police report. Has there been other sort of mainstream reporting that said what prompted this?
Yeah. So basically what I have seen is that it was there was a team function at an establishment, a popular establishment at Penn State. And the guy was being the guy was harassing Gavin McKenna's mother and family and just continued just to go at them. And the altercation occurred in the it wasn't in the bar. It was in the street outside of the establishment.
And that's where the report, or multiple people have put out there, again, just allegedly, that the guy's jaw was broken. I think that was in the Onward State report that was put out there officially. And that he needed, a tooth was missing and needed corrective surgery to fix the broken jaw, which is going to take a while to be able to heal, obviously.
But that the guy just kept going at McKenna and McKenna struck back. Just a good Western boy. Tyler Kennedy. Kennedy. Kennedy. We have to get your opinion.
Well. This is what happens, right? When you run your mouth, like the guy, I don't know what this kid's name is, but take it like a man, right?
Well, he was a man. He was 21 years old. You're talking about Gavin McKenna or you're talking about the guy who did it?
The guy that got hit. You're going to run your mouth?
He's three years older than Gavin McKenna.
Well, do you know? I just want to check first if we know for a fact that this is all what happened.
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Chapter 3: What details are emerging about the altercation?
But... Nothing drives me more nuts than when someone runs their mouth and then cries wolf and says, oh, it's like, no, bud, you want to run your mouth. He had an unbelievable punch. Take it like a man. And move on. Don't be like, oh. It's like if you run your mouth, that's like sometimes I feel like there's a problem in society. People are allowed to say whatever they want with no consequences.
And it's social media driven.
And that's where it starts. And it's like, dude, this is what happens. You play with the bull, you get the horns. And when you think this is the difference between hockey and football, right? We think of DK Metcalf. He missed. Hockey players don't miss too often, right? And I just can't believe...
that he didn't have like he didn't have like you said Bob someone there with him right even like his mother you think is and I think we've all done this there we can talk I had an instant when it was similar where I got in trouble for the same thing but you have to learn from your mistakes and do I think this hurts his stock in the draft I
100 no i think it might add to his stock i love a guy that has a little backbone right a little guy like hey you can't say this without suffering some consequences and i think is it right that he what he did no but i also think it shows that he's got some you know some emotion some caring about his family you know like i i i my my perspective of gavin mckenna
Almost more respect because he didn't let it happen because you can just imagine what this guy was saying. But like, again, if you're his teammates and you have this eight year old phenom where you just got an outdoor game because of him. And this guy's wrapping off like your teammates should be jumping in.
Yeah, that's my thing. I guess I'm not, at this point as I sit here right now, comfortable commenting on whether or not somebody was saying stuff about his mom.
Well, take that out of the equation. His response, no matter what, you can't do.
If that was the case, it's understandable, but there is too much at stake. It's the same thing we saw with DK Metcalf.
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Chapter 4: What charges has Gavin McKenna faced?
He'd never be like the four, you know, like me out there, you know, like he would be. And he always had, he was always drinking water, making sure he was like our dad when we went to the bar, you know, taking care of us, making sure. And then there was times that, you know, guys mouthed off, but.
Times have changed so much because of the phones, because of other guys seeing what happens if you can sue these guys. Back in the day, I remember certain teammates going in the back alley and calling a guy, hey, if you want to talk, let's go into the back alley. And I'm talking, these guys were legit tough guys. And usually when you call these guys out, they don't go. But I've seen guys...
go behind a bar and then come back and pretend like nothing's wrong.
Chapter 5: How are the podcast hosts reacting to McKenna's situation?
But now it's so different. And the difference from my first year in the NHL to my last year, when we went to a team party, everyone had to leave their phones at the front door from everyone coming in to everyone leaving. That's the only time you got your phone back was when you left the bar or when you left the event.
And it was just because pictures get taken out of context, all this crazy stuff. And my first year, it was just like, you know, the pictures were so bad because the cameras were so bad. But now it almost feels like everyone's got their eyes on them no matter what. There's always a camera. So you do have to watch everything. That's a big mistake by him.
Well, I wonder what's going to happen moving forward with him. That's one of the questions here is, does he play again?
Oh, 100%. I mean, at Penn State. I think Penn State's got quite a few lawyers, and I think you'd have that legal team, and I think it's already all taken care of. But...
Oh, I don't know about that. I think there's still more to come from that point of view. They issued a statement. They are aware of it, but they're not going to comment anymore, which is the typical reaction of a team that says, we understand it's happened. We are looking into it. Investigation continues. We won't comment until whenever.
So for now, if you're asking me if he's going to play soon, I don't know if he will play soon.
Do you? You think it changes the stock in the draft? Probably not.
No, absolutely not.
And it shouldn't, to be honest. It shouldn't. How much did DK's fine cost him? Like, how much did it cost him?
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Chapter 6: What are the potential consequences for McKenna's career?
I want to know what we have. I want to know if he can play in the NHL and make those huge stops because right now we're getting like these, such a small dose. We still don't know if he can play at the NHL level at a high level consistently. Right. Like, I just think we need more of them and, and he's proven enough to me that he needs to be up here full time. Like being down there.
It's not wasting his time, but like... No, I'm with you on that. I don't know what they're thinking.
I'd like to see Marischov.
I'd like to see them actually trade Skinner. I think a lot of this will happen at the trade deadline. I think you're going to see something happen somewhere along the line that will allow for this. But I don't think in the meantime they have... How would you play this tonight? And the only reason I ask is because... Skinner coming off a bad game.
They have one game left before they're off for two and a half weeks. Do you go to Shelov's or do you go back to Skinner just to say, hey, we got your back. Go out and do what you got to do.
Tonight? I'm going to Arthur. Why do they have to have Skinner's back? Who cares?
Coaches will do that.
I go to the guy who's playing better right now, and that's Shelovs. Yeah, I would go to Shelovs.
I thought Shelovs played unbelievable. He was. He was the reason that they were even in that game. Ottawa should have beaten him 8-1.
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Chapter 7: How should athletes handle confrontations in public?
He has his shortcomings too, and we all know when he gets to shootouts that that's an issue, but You know, I'm saying that from a Dan Muse point of view. Like, okay, this guy, he's going to redeem him. We're going to show you guys. And that team may play better knowing that they got his back too. I've seen enough of that in coaching to know that sometimes that is an option.
Especially Shilov's going to the Olympics, right? Does that change if you're going to play tonight? I think that's good for him. I think it's good to get him a game before he goes at a high ā Well, and like I think for hockey players in the NHL, having a week and a half off is like having like three months off for hockey players because they only get one day a month off or two days a month.
Other than that, they're always at the rink. So to get a week and a half, like Skinner is going to probably forget if they don't go back to him.
Chapter 8: What measures can teams take to protect their players?
I think this break, this Olympic break, helps the Penguins so much. If there's a team that comes back way better after breaks, it's the Pittsburgh Penguins. From the start of the season, they always start real hot. After Christmas, they were one of the hottest teams. Now they're starting to cool off, and you can start seeing they're making mistakes or looking tired.
They need a break right now. Plus they have a lot of injuries with Tang. I don't know if Malkin's 100%. He may need the time. And certainly Ben Kendall, even though he's playing okay and everything, he needs the time because he's 18 years old. I don't think he's faced this kind of workload for a long time, if ever.
Well, let's talk about that a little more coming up with Stanley Cup champion Tyler Kennedy.
I want to also hear what you think about gold medal games or who's going to get there because it's a pretty competitive field. And if you look at some of the odds here, a little surprising. Yeah, let's talk about that.