​When Mckenna Van Gelder steps onto the ice this summer, she’s wearing a coach’s whistle instead of a PWHL jersey.In a few months, the PWHL San Jose draft pick will begin her professional career as one of the league’s newest forwards. For now, though, she’s back where her own love of hockey first took off, coaching young players at Maple Leafs Hockey School.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt’s a fitting full-circle moment.Years before becoming one of Cornell’s most dependable forwards and hearing her name called in the 2026 PWHL Draft, Van Gelder was one of the campers lacing up her skates at the very same program.”I was a player in the Maple Leafs Hockey School myself,” Van Gelder told The Hockey News. “That was just a really cool thing to keep a young kid involved in the sport and keep growing with the sport. You got to meet all these amazing hockey players, and at the time it was mostly male athletes but they also brought in female role models as well. That was a really cool experience to have.”Like many Canadian players of her generation, Van Gelder’s hockey career began on boys teams before girls hockey became the obvious fit.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementShe played boys hockey until she was around eight years old before trying out for the Etobicoke Dolphins. She immediately found what she had been looking for.The atmosphere, the teammates and the organization made such an impression that she never left, spending her entire minor hockey career with the Dolphins from novice through junior hockey.Her talent quickly became evident.Van Gelder committed to Cornell early, before NCAA recruiting rules changed. Although many young players see their priorities shift over the years, Cornell only became a better fit the closer she got to campus.By the time she graduated, she had developed into one of the ECAC’s most reliable two-way forwards and a player ready to make the jump to the professional game.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement”Cornell developed me into the player I am today,” she said. “I can thank them a lot for the success I’ve had, and I think that’s a huge part of why I’m able to play in the PWHL next year.”Before that next chapter begins, however, Van Gelder has made it a priority to give back to the game that gave her so much.She’s coached at Maple Leafs Hockey School every summer since her freshman year at Cornell after being invited back by organizers who remembered her as a camper and through her involvement with MLSE youth programs.She accepted the opportunity because she wanted to give back. She keeps coming back because she genuinely loves it.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhether she’s working with novice players or this year’s peewee group, Van Gelder enjoys watching confidence grow over the course of the week. One of the campers’ favorite drills, affectionately called “Team Canada,” starts as a simple passing exercise before evolving into a competitive one-on-one battle, giving kids a chance to sharpe