Penn State forward Gavin McKenna, the consensus first overall pick in this June’s NHL draft, has been charged with felony aggravated assault and other counts, according to Pennsylvania Magisterial District Court documents.

McKenna, an 18-year-old native of Canada, was charged with first-degree felony aggravated assault, which is defined as “attempts to cause serious bodily injury or causes injury with extreme indifference”; misdemeanor simple assault; and two summary counts of disorderly conduct for harassment and engaging in a fight.

The maximum penalty for first-degree felony aggravated assault in Pennsylvania is 20 years in prison and/or a $25,000 fine.

According to the State College Police Department, McKenna’s charges are the result of an altercation that occurred in State College at about 8:45 p.m. on Jan. 31. Police said McKenna allegedly struck a 21-year-old male in the face, resulting in facial injuries that required surgery.

McKenna was arraigned on the charges and released on $20,000 bail. A preliminary hearing for the case is scheduled for Feb. 11 at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.

The alleged incidents happened on the same day that an NCAA outdoor hockey game at Penn State’s Beaver Stadium drew 74,575 fans. The Nittany Lions lost to Michigan State 5-4 in overtime. McKenna had a goal and two assists. He has 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists) in 24 games with Penn State this season.

NHL Central Scouting ranks McKenna first among all North American skaters. The NHL told ESPN it is aware of the charges against McKenna but offered no comment, as he’s not currently a player in the league.

Penn State issued a statement saying it was aware of the charges.

“We are aware that charges have been filed; however, as this is an ongoing legal matter, we will not have any further comment,” the statement said.

McKenna stunned the hockey world last year by opting to leave Canadian junior hockey for Penn State’s men’s hockey program. In 2024, the NCAA ruled that Canadian junior players were now eligible to play on Division I teams, ending a decades-old policy that made young athletes choose between the Canadian Hockey League and college hockey.

McKenna was one of the first Canadian junior players to make the jump to the NCAA. His NIL money for attending Penn State is “in the ballpark” of $700,000, a source told ESPN at the time.

The Maryland Freedom Caucus, a group of GOP delegates in the Maryland state legislature, made a post on social media showing a sign that appeared to have been hung by Democrat colleagues, dismissing concerns over trans athletes in women’s sports. 

The post claimed the sign was hung Wednesday, which was National Girls & Women in Sports Day. 

The sign, which has a signature from the Maryland Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus, was hung on the offices of Democrat state delegates Eric Ebersole and Nick Allen.

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Ebersole and Allen provided a joint statement to Fox News Digital addressing the sign. 

“As proud allies, we support the LGBTQ+ Caucus and its work to fight discrimination and counter the rampant misinformation targeting the transgender community. Our office is next door to that of our friend, colleague, and Chair of the LGBTQ+ Caucus, and it will always be a safe space. At a time when adults, especially those in positions of power, feel compelled to publicly bully trans kids, we choose to stand with the LGBTQ+ community today and always,” the statement read. 

The sign makes the claim that “trans women have no competitive advantage” in women’s sports. 

In 2021, the British Journal of Sports Medicine published a study that said transgender women maintain an advantage over biological women even after a year of hormone therapy treatment.

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The sign also went on to state, “anti-dignity policies put transgender youth at risk,” “banning transgender youth is illegal” and “invasive enforcement creates fear.” 

This all happened a day before the Maryland state legislature is scheduled to vote on the Fairness in Girls’ Sports Act.

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The bill would require “certain interscholastic and intramural junior varsity and varsity athletic teams or sports sponsored by certain schools and certain locker rooms to be expressly designated based on biological sex; prohibiting certain entities from taking certain adverse actions against a school for maintaining separate interscholastic and intramural junior varsity and varsity athletic teams or sports or locker rooms for students of the female sex.” 

So far, 27 states in the U.S. have similar laws in effect that enforce bans on trans athletes in girls sports. 

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The baseball world is mourning the loss of a player who made history with the Detroit Tigers.

Mickey Lolich, remembered as the Tigers’ hero in the 1968 World Series, has died, the Tigers announced. He was 85. Lolich is the last MLB pitcher to win three games in the league’s championship series, the World Series. He was named World Series MVP that year.

The Tigers said Lolich’s wife informed the franchise that Lolich was recently in hospice care. The cause of death was not released.

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Lolich is No. 23 on the all-time career strikeouts list with 2,832 punchouts.

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Lolich was an unlikely star of the Tigers 1968 title run. During a reunion of the World Series team, he recalled how manager Mayo Smith had sent him to the bullpen for much of August. He returned to the Tigers’ starting rotation and was 6-1 in the final weeks.

“I was having a few problems, but I had been a starting pitcher ever since 1964,” said Lolich, who was upset about the bullpen move. “I remember telling him, ‘If we win this thing this year it’s going to be because of me.’ But I was only talking about the season. I wasn’t talking about the World Series.

“I got my revenge back in the World Series,” he said.

FILE – Mickey Lolich, pitcher of Detroit Tigers poses for a photo, March 1968.  (AP Photo, File)

Lolich pitched Game 7 after only two days of rest. He figured he would get a Corvette from General Motors for being the Series MVP but had to settle for a Dodge Charger GT because Chrysler was the sponsor in 1968.

“Nothing against Chargers, nothing at all,” Lolich said in his book, “Joy in Tigertown.” “It’s just that I already had two of them in my driveway.”

Since Lolich, only two pitchers have won three games in a single World Series: Arizona’s Randy Johnson in 2001 and Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2025. But they pitched fewer innings and got their third victories in relief.

FILE – Former Detroit Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich throws out the ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Tigers and the Pittsburgh Pirates, March 30, 2018, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

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In a statement, the Tigers expressed condolences to Lolich’s family and said his legacy “will forever be cherished.”

After his baseball career, Lolich went into the doughnut business in the Detroit suburbs, making and selling them for 18 years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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