The Province
February 26, 2001
By Terry Bell

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The wait is finally over for big Bryan Allen and the Canucks.

Vancouver's injury-plagued first-round pick (fourth overall) in the 1998 June draft at last has got the call that every kid dreams of:

"Pack your bags. You're headed to the NHL.''

Allen, 21, will make his long-anticipated NHL debut tonight when the Canucks play the Wild in Minnesota.

"It's exciting,'' said the 6-foot-4, 230-pound defenceman, who got the news Saturday night from Kansas City Blades coach Stan Smyl after the Canucks farm team lost 3-0 at home to the Manitoba Moose. "It was definitely a surprise. I hadn't thought about it. It took me back a bit.''

Allen looked fresh Sunday, considering he'd played back-to-back games with the Blades on Friday and Saturday before flying here through a snowstorm early Sunday morning.

He was paired in drills with Mattias Ohlund but that will change tonight.

"It's a great opportunity for Bryan,'' said Canucks coach Marc Crawford. "He's a big piece of what the future of this club will look like. Down the road when we don't have some of our older defenceman he'll be one of the prime group. We've had really good reports on him all year.

"He'll be a stay-at-home defenceman who plays against the other team's premier guys. But he's not that yet. Right now he'll be spotted.''

That's fine with Allen, who is finally getting to play a full season after two injury ravaged years.

A shoulder injury, a foot injury and operations on both knees combined to limit him to just 49 games over the last two seasons. Last year he played just 12 games, three at Oshawa of the Ontario Hockey League and nine with the Canucks former American Hockey League farm team in Syracuse.

"It's been a journey for sure,'' said Allen. "Over the years there've been so many ups and downs. With all the injuries it was hard to get into the groove.

"This year I've played over 60 games. It's weird because I don't know how long its been since I've been able to play a full year. It's good to get back on track. The ice time [he's averaged well over 20 minutes] has been great. I feel like I've made a lot of progress.''

So do the Canucks. In 57 IHL games this year, Allen has scored five goals and 20 points with 74 penalty minutes.

The call for Allen -- a Kingston, Ont., native -- was made because Jason Strudwick suffered a strained left knee in a collision with an Ottawa Senator in Saturday's 3-0 loss.

The club had planned to send Strudwick back to Vancouver today for tests but chose instead to keep him here.

"He'll be out a couple of weeks,'' said Crawford.

"It's not hurting but it feels loose,'' Strudwick said Sunday. "If it's not hurting, how do you know if it's getting better? That's the problem right now.''



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