Seven Years Ago He Was a Cashier at the Mall, Now an EVZ Striker: The Crazy Career of Riley Sheen

After four seasons in the WHL junior league, the striker practically turned his back on hockey in 2015. He no longer trains and plays for fun in unknown leagues (ACAC, Chinook HL). Sheen looks for odd jobs. Sometimes he helps with his older brother Cole on construction sites or sits at the cash register at the mall. “Ex-teammates of mine regularly came by and I had to collect money from them. They couldn’t believe I ended up there and asked me what I was actually doing there.” At one point he felt ashamed. “It was a wake-up call.”

Hitting pucks for hours

Family and friends have repeatedly tried to convince the Canadian not to waste his talent in that way. Sheen gets to the point where he regrets his decision and agrees with them. “I called player friends and complained a bit. They were expecting my call.” Sheen will return to hockey in two seasons at the University of Calgary. “I knew I still had a lot of catching up to do.” He spends hours hitting pucks after practices.

At the age of 24 he made the decision: now – or never again. “The most important thing was that I completely changed my attitude. I didn’t want to let it slide anymore, but was willing to invest physically and mentally in what was necessary for a professional career.” Knowing that this is his last chance, he starts looking for an agent. His only advisor: his cousin Matt Fraser (33), who has been playing for Klagenfurt since 2020. The ex-NHL striker (Edmonton, Boston, Dallas) finds an agent for him – so begins Sheen’s crazy career.

His first stop as a pro: Beijing. His agent is also that of Gary Graham (44, USA), who is head coach of ORG Beijing in 2019/20. A farm team of the Chinese KHL club Kunlun Red Star, which plays in the second highest Russian league, the VHL. The offer is lucrative. The team is funded by a wealthy industrialist to promote ice hockey in China ahead of the domestic Olympics.

A culture shock in China

Sheen accepts the offer and sets out on the greatest adventure. ‘It was a culture shock. After a week I desperately called my parents and just wanted to go home.” But they convinced him to persevere. Looking back, he says that that season prepared him perfectly for professional football. He can handle the long plane rides, but also life in the hotel. He has unforgettable experiences in Beijing and visits the Great Wall of China with his father and brother. And plays good hockey with 50 points (27 goals) in 53 games.

That opens the next doors for him. Sheen ends up with the Bietigheim Steelers in the DEL2 and will be promoted to the DEL with them in 2021. “My goal of reaching the Premier League was achieved.” It makes him proud – and sad at the same time. His grandfather Rudy (93†) passes away, “he was always my biggest fan and hardly missed a game of mine.” In his memory, Sheen really stepped up his game and scored 40 goals for the newly promoted club.

Anyone who scores 40 goals and 24 assists in 55 qualifying matches in the DEL appears on a bigger radar. Also on that of Zug’s master trainer Dan Tangnes (44, no.). In 2022, Sheen will move to Sweden, to Rögle BK, the club where Tangnes once launched his coaching career and whose matches he regularly follows. Injuries derailed the Canadian in his first season, and in this championship Rögle stumbled from one crisis to another, culminating in the dismissal of coach Cam Abbott (40, Ka) in mid-December 2023.

A week later, Sheen signed with EVZ. Tangnes is convinced of his potential and wants to help him develop it. Rögle does not put any obstacles in the striker’s way and lets him go. He now plays for the successful Zug club and replaces the injured Brian O’Neill (35, USA). This is where Sheen wants to write the next chapter of his hockey fairytale.