Sheen eliminated, Cox plays for chance at WHL title

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

The Moose Jaw Warriors were a runaway freight train in the Western Hockey League regular season.
A mainstay in the Canadian Hockey League Top 10, the Warriors wrapped up the season as the second-best team in the CHL.
The Warriors had everything: a solid goaltender, NHL prospects, perhaps the best group of over-agers in the league, a historic goal scorer and depth at the blue line.
They laid waste to teams in the regular season, finishing with 109 points and a 52-15-2-3 record. Everyone in Saskatchewan was gearing up for a long playoff drive, along with former UFA Bison Barrett Sheen, who was traded to the Warriors early in the season from the Kootenay Ice.
But those dreams of hoisting the Warriors first Ed Chynoweth Cup and advancing to their first Memorial Cup came crashing down in Game 7 when the Warriors got punched in the mouth by the Swift Current Broncos April 16 at Mosaic Place.
“We thought we had a pretty special team here. We went up against a really good team – probably the second-best team in our league, and we lost. It sucks, but it was a great experience and I had a great time,” said Sheen.
Meeting the Warriors in the Eastern Conference semifinals were the Broncos, who loaded up with former 30- and 40-goal scorers at the trade deadline. The Broncos finished the season ranked fourth in the CHL. If it weren’t for the new WHL playoff format similar to the NHL’s, these teams – the top two teams in the league – wouldn’t have met until the conference final.
The series lived up to the hype, and then Game 7 happened. The first six games saw the Broncos take a 3-2 lead, but the Warriors forced Game 7 with a come-from-behind triple-overtime thriller.
But the wheels fell off in Game 7, when Calgary Flames prospect Glenn Gawdin supplied two goals and two assists in the 6-0 whitewashing.
“It was a hard-fought series that saw six overtime periods take place,” said Sheen. “It was a really close series, but it sucked to end the season like that.”
Sheen was ready for a long playoff drive. He racked up 10 goals and 21 points in 13 games in helping the Bisons reach their only Telus Cup appearance in 2014.
Now in his fourth season in the WHL and first extended playoff drive, Sheen’s role has changed.
Having never scored more than 10 goals in any season in the WHL, the Warriors didn’t want him to change his game when he arrived in Moose Jaw. They didn’t want to pressure him into fitting into their high-powered offence.
“I was happy with the trade. I went from Kootenay and a team that was rebuilding and ultimately missed the playoffs, to arguably the top team in the country. I came in and they didn’t want me to change my game. They wanted me to continue playing my physical, hard-to-play-against style of hockey and I thought I did a good job of that,” said Sheen, who was held pointless in 14 playoff games.
With the playoffs over, there is a pile of roster decisions waiting for Warriors GM Alan Miller.
The Warriors dressed 10 players who are eligible to return as over-agers next season, but somehow need to trim that down to three.
“I’m not really sure what the future holds for me,” said Sheen. “I guess I’ll find out over the next couple days with my exit meetings, but I don’t have any plans. I’m just going to go home, relax and get ready for next season, wherever that may be.”
There is still one former Bison in the hunt for the Chynoweth Cup.
Zach Cox and the Lethbridge Hurricanes are now dealt the task of slowing down the Broncos high-flying offence.
The right winger has a pair of goals in nine playoff games, as the Hurricanes have sailed through the first two rounds relatively unscathed.
After finishing second in the Central Division, the Hurricanes ran the Red Deer Rebels out of town in five games and did the same to the wildcard Brandon Wheat Kings, who actually finished with more points in the regular season.
Cox suited up with the Bisons one year after Sheen and spent two seasons in Strathmore, but never reached the Telus Cup.
After spending five games with the Nipawin Hawks of the SJHL, Cox got called up for 58 regular season games with the Hurricanes this season and tallied a pair of goals and six assists.
Oddly enough, the Hurricanes traded their starting goalie and one of their top forwards to the Broncos at the trade deadline for future assets. They will certainly be hard pressed to knock off the Broncos, but as seen in the past, anything can happen in the WHL Playoffs.