HIGHLIGHTS

  • Gavin McKenna accidentally scored on his own net during pre-tournament game vs Sweden
  • Projected 2026 No. 1 pick bobbled puck into empty Canadian net on delayed penalty
  • Read below for video of McKenna’s own goal and why it ultimately doesn’t matter

Gavin McKenna just gave hockey Twitter its best content in weeks.

Canada’s projected 2026 No. 1 pick scored on his own net Saturday during a World Juniors pre-tournament game against Sweden.

The 18-year-old from Whitehorse was trying to collect a pass on a delayed penalty when the puck bounced off his stick and slowly rolled into the empty Canadian cage.

Check out the TSN clip below, which didn’t take long to go viral:

With Canada’s goalie pulled for the extra attacker during the delayed call, McKenna bobbled the puck while avoiding a Swedish forechecker. The puck took a weird hop and dribbled all the way in.

These bloopers happen, but the best part was Sweden’s reaction. Their whole bench went wild, giving out fist bumps like they’d just scored in overtime.

McKenna isn’t the first star to suffer through this. Loui Eriksson famously scored on his own net during his first game with Vancouver. Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang combined for one just last season against Arizona.

You see this once or twice a year. Some unlucky player fumbles the puck on a delayed penalty and has to watch it crawl into his own net in slow motion. It’s great for the highlight reels, but you can’t help but feel for the guy.

The good news for McKenna? This was a meaningless exhibition game. If this happened in the gold medal game, he’d never hear the end of it.

Canada opens Group B play Friday against Czechia, and McKenna will have plenty of chances to make people forget about this blooper. He’s skating alongside Michael Misa, Porter Martone, and Zayne Parekh on one of the most talented rosters in the tournament.

Canada needs McKenna to be great at this tournament. The red and white won back-to-back golds in 2022 and 2023, but crashed out in the quarters the last two years. The bar is way too high in Canada for that kind of failure to continue.

This own goal won’t change a thing for McKenna’s draft stock. He’s still projected to go first overall in 2026 and become a star.

Every high-level athlete makes mistakes. The smart ones get them out of the way before the games actually count.