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For Yukon hockey fans, it was arguably the event of the year.
And for the territory’s Toronto Maple Leafs fans, it was like a dream come true on Friday, when hometown hero Gavin McKenna was picked by the Leafs with the first overall draft pick.
“You know, we may not be winning the Cup today, but we’re winning something and we’ll take it,” said Paul Robitaille, a longtime Leafs fan in Dawson City, Yukon.
“This is a big deal.”
Hundreds of people had gathered in Whitehorse and Dawson City on Friday afternoon to watch the draft, which happened in Buffalo, N.Y.
McKenna is a citizen of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation, which is based in Dawson City. Alysha Van Bibber, also a Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in citizen, helped organize a watch party at the First Nation’s community hall in Dawson.
“I don’t know him or really his family personally, but just the investment I think, as a citizen and somebody who lives up in the Yukon and all of that — I was surprised at how nervous I got,” Van Bibber said.
“I think everyone was nervous, and when his name came out of Justin Bieber’s mouth — which also was crazy — I think it was kind of relief and excitement from everybody.”
McKenna is the second-ever Indigenous player from Canada to be selected first overall in the NHL draft. The last one was Dale McCourt of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinābeg First Nation, who was selected first overall by the Detroit Red Wings in 1977.
Gregory McKenna, who says he’s Gavin’s great-uncle, came to the Dawson gathering on Friday because he was curious to see how many people would show up. He was wearing a Medicine Hat Tigers jersey — Gavin’s former Western Hockey League team.
“I was proud,” Gregory said, of watching it all play out on Friday. Asked what he hopes comes next for his great-nephew, he had a ready answer.
“Stanley Cup,” he said, with a laugh.
Angie Joseph-Rear, another Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in citizen at the Dawson gathering, called Gavin McKenna “for now, our number one citizen.”
“It’s amazing, it’s exciting, I don’t know — I got all teared up,” she said. “I don’t know what else to say.”
At Whitehorse’s Takhini Arena — where McKenna, 18, once honed his skills as a young player — Hockey Yukon also organized a watch party. Judging by the Leafs jerseys spotted in the crowd, the outcome of the draft was not much of a surprise.
Yukon Premier Currie Dixon was at the Whitehorse gathering and called it “an incredible moment.”
“I have goosebumps. I’m not a Leafs fan, but I guess I am now,” he said.
“It’s huge for the hockey community, and young kids like our kids, girls and boys that play hockey in this town, that look up to their idol now, Gavin McKenna … it really lets them dream big and see what’s possible.”
Many Yukoners love to talk about Canada’s biggest city, Toronto, with derision. But Paul Robitaille in Dawson City insists that there are “many more Leafs fans than people realize.”
“It’s just because we haven’t had much success that they don’t see us, you know, but we are the silent majority, I think,” Robitaille said.
Now, he’s urging any doubters in the territory to also get behind his favourite team.
“I just want them to know that they’re welcome, you know … Come on, come join us.”
Adil Darvesh, a Leafs fan in Whitehorse who’s originally from Toronto, expects his former hometown will easily get behind McKenna.
“I think Gavin’s probably going to have a lot of support from fans from the city. There’s going to be a lot of buzz and a lot of people rooting for him, and I think he should really embrace that,” Darvesh said.
“Leafs fans get a bad rap, but in the end we want our team to win and if Gavin comes in and puts his hard hat on and goes to work, I think a lot of Leaf fans are going to really gravitate towards that.”
