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Tipped Off
09-21-2005, 10:00 AM
1 last try made Silvertips player a star

By Jim Riley
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Shaun Heshka, who'll play one more WHL season, has the attention of the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League.

Shaun Heshka figured after three strikes, he was out.

Already cut in consecutive seasons by the Swift Current Broncos, Heshka found himself sent back home to Melville, Saskatchewan, again in fall 2003.

This time, he'd been dismissed by the Everett Silvertips, then an expansion franchise collecting castoffs for what was expected to be a rocky inaugural season.

The Silvertips left the door open for Heshka just a crack, telling him to let them know if he made a commitment to play in the Western Hockey League (WHL) rather than in college.

"I wasn't sure I could go through the devastation of being cut again," Heshka said. "So I had decided I was going to stay home, maybe try to play in college."

After a little parental pressure, Heshka reconsidered.

Heshka and the Silvertips are happy he did. Two years later, he returns for his final WHL season and is a key reason why, heading into its opener, Everett is considered a favorite in the U.S. Division, along with the Seattle Thunderbirds. The Silvertips will open their third season in Kamloops, B.C., on Saturday and play their home opener against Prince George on Oct. 1.

Heshka is glad he took his parents' advice to give the WHL one more try.

"My parents told me to think about what a huge opportunity I had to play in Everett," Heshka recalled. "So I started calling all my old coaches, and they all pointed me back toward the Western Hockey League. I didn't really want to play in college anyway."

The Silvertips agreed to fly Heshka back to training camp, with no guarantees how long he would stick.

"We told him if he was going to come back this direction he had to be completely committed," Everett head coach Kevin Constantine recalled. "He was one of about 10 defensemen we were looking at. He ended up being in the top four in his first year."

Often described as a late bloomer, Heshka, 20, is now one of the best defensemen in the league, something he hadn't been sure was possible.

"I was frighteningly close to not going back. I thought maybe playing in the WHL was out of my grasp," Heshka said. "I just decided I would do my best and try to improve in every game."

Heshka led Everett's defensemen in scoring last season with 38 points and played in all 72 regular-season games. He earned an invitation to training camp with the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League, and spent most of the summer in Everett working out to get ready.

"I'm definitely stronger, a little bigger [at 6 feet 2, 206 pounds], and my speed has improved a lot," Heshka said. "Calgary told me I have all the tools, that I just need to learn to be more aggressive. I've improved a lot, and I still have a long way to go, but it was a great experience for me."

Constantine said the Silvertips feel lucky to get Heshka back for his final WHL season.

"You want to see your players succeed, but selfishly, we were very nervous that the Flames would sign him and we would lose him," Constantine said. "We got word back from Calgary that they were very impressed with Shaun's game and that he was much better than a lot of the guys who had signed contracts. They're going to be keeping a very close eye on him."

Heshka has become a leader by example and was an assistant captain last season.

"Shaun's game is very subtle," Constantine said. "You don't necessarily appreciate him until you see him play a lot of games. Sometimes it's easy to pick out a defenseman who makes a big hit or goes end to end. With Shaun, it's just the opposite. He is just really steady and makes very few mistakes."

Heshka said his experience with the Flames has given him a lot of confidence.

"They told me I had a great hockey mind and vision, but they wanted me to do everything a little harder," he said. "Pass the puck harder, skate harder, shoot harder and do everything on a more intense level. I trained like crazy in the summer, and it paid off."

And it should pay off for an Everett team rated No. 3 in the WHL in a preseason media poll.

"At the end of last year, it looked like we were going to be a young team this year, but we've brought in some really highly skilled guys like [John] Lammers and [Peter] Mueller," Heshka said. "Now it looks like we can make a serious run at it again."

Everett won U.S. Division and Western Conference titles in its inaugural season and finished third and won its opening-round playoff series against Portland last season.

"Last year, we had a lot of really young players and a lot of older players, without many in the middle," Constantine said. "This is a mystery year. We have a lot of young players, but they have a lot of experience. If you look at our skill level, the potential is higher than it has been in previous years."