The Province
October 5, 2001
By Ben Kuzma

Missed passes, missed hits and a missed opportunity to get off to a smart NHL regular-season start.

While that aptly described too many Canucks in a sloppy 5-4 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday at GM Place, no one came out more battered and bruised from the school of hard opening-night knocks than rookie defenceman Bryan Allen.

"I was pretty nervous. There were a lot of expectations put on us after last year's finish and we were a little too emotional," said the towering 21-year-old, who looked so good last April in two playoff appearances against Colorado and so suspect in his own zone on Thursday in a pairing with Drake Berehowsky.

Allen's worst offence was indecision on a missed first-period hit along the side boards on Kyle Calder. The Hawks winger scooted around Allen, took a return feed from Igor Korolev and scored to make it 3-1 for Chicago.

"He made a good move and I just didn't read the play well, but you've got to put it behind you because you're going to make mistakes," said Allen, who did crunch Chicago enforcer Ryan Vandenbussche with a centre-ice hit. However, Allen was caught up ice on a pair of Chicago scoring opportunities.

Allen, the club's first choice in the 1998 entry draft (fourth overall), finished with a minus-1 rating in 9:46 of playing time, and just 2:56 in the third period.

Allen could be a press-box spectator Saturday when the Canucks face Detroit. Coach Marc Crawford may opt for Jason Strudwick over Brent Sopel, who's still rounding into game shape. The pair were healthy scratches against the Blackhawks along with winger Herbert Vasiljevs.

"I thought he [Allen] got stronger as the game went on," said Crawford.

Maybe Berehowsky put it best.

"None of us played as well as we could have," he said of a suspect defensive team effort.



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