The Province
September 30, 1998
By Terry Bell

As if the Vancouver Canucks didn't already have enough fresh faces to evaluate, along comes towering teen Bryan Allen to make the youth gang seem even more formidable.

Allen will play his first NHL game tonight at GM Place when the Canucks hook up with the Calgary Flames. He's excited. And so are the Canucks, who selected the 18-year-old defenceman

No. 4 overall in last June's amateur draft and then watched in horror as he injured his knee in a National Junior Team evaluation camp this summer.

"I'm excited, for sure,'' said Allen, who has been given a clean bill of health to play after tests at training camp showed that ligaments in his right knee were only strained and not torn. "I'm looking forward to getting out there in front of all those people. I'm sure it'll be the biggest crowd I've ever played in front of.''

Allen, 6-foot-5, 210 pounds, is loaded with promise. Everyone who has watched him play says he's the real deal and watching him skate, hand out quick, deft passes and play with poise, it's hard to argue with the assessment. A Kingston, Ont., product, Allen will end up dominating the Ontario League with the Oshawa Generals this season.

Head coach Mike Keenan is just keen to see how Allen copes.

"The best thing we can do is see if he can survive the night,'' says Keenan. "It's a big challenge for an 18-year-old and he's just turned 18 (on Aug. 21) so he's really a 17-year-old.''



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