Jaxon Cover’s path to Penn State is not a traditional one.
The London Knights forward and Penn State commit did not grow up following the same hockey road map as most NHL Draft prospects. Cover’s story started in the Cayman Islands, where he first learned to skate on roller blades at three years old.
From there came travel roller hockey, summer trips to Canada, a transition to ice hockey, boarding school, the Ontario Hockey League and now the cusp of hearing his name called in the NHL Draft.
For Penn State, that background is part of what makes Cover such an intriguing piece of Guy Gadowsky’s future forward group.
Cover is still relatively new to high-level ice hockey compared to many players in his draft class, but that is also where the appeal lies. He brings creativity, lateral movement, puck skill and a different way of processing the game that are traits he credits to his roller hockey background.
“I credit a lot of my creativity to roller,” Cover said at the NHL Scouting Combine. “Just how I can break down plays and see if the defender’s reading my eyes or if he’s trying to read my body fakes.”
That skill set helped him earn a chance with London, one of the premier developmental programs in the OHL. Cover said being selected by the Knights helped him believe that his hockey path could become something bigger.
“When London took the chance on me in the fourth round, I started to really believe that maybe I can make a thing out of this,” Cover said.
Now Penn State is positioned to become the next major stop in that development.
Cover said he was drawn to Penn State because of the direction of Gadowsky’s program, its recent track record and the environment around the Nittany Lions.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“Seeing how they’re a newer organization and they’ve just had such a great track record in the past few years with great players,” Cover said. “It just looks like a really welcoming organization. It looks like a family over there, and I can’t wait to get started there.”
That is where Gadowsky’s role is having an impact.
Penn State has never recruited like an old-line college hockey power by selling decades of national championships. The Nittany Lions’ pitch is different. It is about momentum, development, facilities, pace, opportunity and a program still building toward its ceiling.
For a player like Cover, that message fits.
He is not a finished product. He knows it. He said he is “only scraping the surface” of his potential and is focused on becoming a more complete player, especially in the defensive zone and in the stop-and-start habits required in ice hockey.
Cover is expected to return to London next season, with his Penn State timeline still depending on his development and team situation. But whenever he arrives in State College, he will bring a rare profile: an OHL forward with NHL Draft upside, international roller hockey roots and a skill package shaped by an unconventional journey.
For Gadowsky and Penn State, that is the kind of bet worth making.
Cover is not just another recruit. He is a developmental swing with creativity, confidence and a story that matches where Penn State hockey is trying to go forward, fast and still climbing.
