By Cami Kepke via Western Hockey League

It’s a storyline fit for Blackhawks trivia years down the road.

Which Chicago defenceman made his NHL debut at the Delta Centre for the Utah Hockey Club’s first regular season NHL game?

For fans of the Prince Albert Raiders and Seattle Thunderbirds, it’s a no-brainer.

Former Raiders captain and Seattle championship-winning blueliner Nolan Allan took his first NHL strides in front of a voracious crowd of 11,131 (the building is still undergoing renovations to make the facility more hockey-friendly), lining up against his old WHL opponent and World Juniors teammate Dylan Guenther and the Utah Hockey Club.

“It was super surreal,” Allan said of the experience. “Something that I’ve been dreaming of my whole life and for it to finally come true, I can’t even put into words how special it was. To do it in front of my parents and some family was great too.

It’s definitely a lot faster, and obviously stronger, bigger guys. But you know, it’s really cool to look back and look at the journey that I’ve gone on through junior to the NHL. Those are all important stepping stones and you can’t take anything for granted. I think every one of those stops is important, and you learn valuable lessons along the way.”

Indeed, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound blueliner is a long way away from his hometown of Davidson, Sask.

He grew up traveling to watch the Saskatoon Blades, Regina Pats and Moose Jaw Warriors as a youngster- especially when his older brother, Blake, came through the league with the Kootenay ICE, Pats, and later, the Calgary Hitmen.

But it was another Saskatchewan-based squad, the Prince Albert Raiders, that would call his name third overall in the 2018 WHL Prospects Draft.

Allan suited up for parts of five seasons in Prince Albert, notably, for another historic first- Connor Bedard’s first WHL game, which saw the Pats legend score twice.

“He dashed me up twice that game,” Allan laughed.

He admits life is a lot easier now that he’s on the same side as the former WHL Player of the Year and reigning NHL Rookie of the Year.

“We actually talked about it like two days ago,” Bedard added. “I didn’t want to bring it up, but he mentioned it. Thought it was, thought it was pretty funny. We played together at World Juniors too, and just being in P.A. and Regina, we played against each other all the time, it’s funny that that’s how the first one went.”

After being drafted by Chicago 32nd overall in the first round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, Allan was traded to Seattle in the midst of his final junior season to help the Thunderbirds push for the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

He ended up potting two goals and eight assists for 10 points and a +22 rating as the T-Birds clinched their second league championship in franchise history- alongside fellows Blackhawks prospects and World Juniors teammates Kevin Korchinski and Colton Dach.

“Winning the cup has got to be number one, for sure,” Allan said of his favourite major junior memories. “But, you know, every year, there’s different memories. You take bits and pieces of every year, there are definitely cool things to look back on. From the time I was 15 watching Prince Albert win it until the time I was 19 and we were able to do it, I think the whole journey itself has different moments you can look back at and smile at.”

And plenty more memories await.

Injuries on the Chicago blueline have led to an extended showing for Allan with the NHL club.

In three games, he’s averaged about 12-and-a-half minutes of ice time per game.

There’s room to grow, mistakes to be made, and games to be won, but Allan hasn’t forgotten where it all started.

So while he chases his next ‘first,’  he has some advice to offer any other skater coming up the WHL pathway.

“It goes by pretty fast. You get there when you’re young, you’re 16 or 17 and you see guys in the room that are 20 years old and you think you got so much time… But really, it goes by pretty quick, those couple years, so I’d say, just take it all in.”