The Province
February 27, 2001
By Terry Bell

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- It wasn't flashy or spectacular but Bryan Allen's NHL debut earned him a passing grade.

"I thought Bryan was good,'' said Canucks coach Marc Crawford, who gave him 15 shifts and 11:11 of ice time, 6:15 of it in the third period. "There were three parts of his game I liked. He had poise, he kept his head up most of the time and he did a good job finding the open man.''

Allen, 21, was the Canucks' first pick (fourth overall) in the 1998 junior draft. His development has been slow because of shoulder and knee operations and a foot injury. But he'd been playing well this year for the Kansas City Blades and got the call Sunday.

"It was pretty exciting,'' said Allen, who had a gathering of family and friends watching on the dish at home in Glenburnie, Ont., a town just north of Kingston.

"I felt I played pretty good. The main thing I'll remember is that we got a win,'' added Allen, who had suffered six straight losses with the Blades before the callup.

"I got a couple of opportunities [to score] on the power play,'' added the 6-foot-4, 230-pounder who wired a couple of hard shots. One went just wide, the other was blocked.

"He has a rocket of a shot,'' said Crawford, who used him on the power play a couple of times in the third period when the Canucks had the win secured. "It's good to have a shot like that on the point.''

Allen spent most of his shifts paired with Mattias Ohlund and turned in a solid performance. He seemed poised, particularly in his own end. He made the safe play and was never out of position.

He finished the night with two hits and was even in the plus-minus.



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