Born in Summerland, BC, Shane Heyer grew up in the Penticton, BC minor hockey system and started officiating at the early age of 11 after his hockey coach encouraged him and his teammates to give it a try. Heyer stuck with it and continued doing local minor hockey games before reaching the B.C. Junior Hockey League at the age of 16. At the age of 19, he began working games for the Western Hockey League as a linesman where he worked five full seasons.

In the summer of 1988, he got the call from the NHL with an offer as a full-time linesman. He made his NHL debut on October 6 in Vancouver at the old Pacific Coliseum, manning the lines during a matchup between the Winnipeg Jets and Vancouver Canucks. He would get his first taste of NHL playoff hockey early as he was selected for the post-season officiating team in only his second season with the NHL.

Wearing uniform number 55, Heyer built an impressive resume as an official. He was selected to work the 1998 NHL All-Star Game, worked two NHL Outdoor Games (2018 & 2014) and reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 2007, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015, & 2017. On the international stage, he worked the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver B.C., and was selected to officiate two World Cup of Hockey tournaments in 1996 & 2016.

Heyer is also one of only a select few NHL officials to have worked NHL games as both a referee and linesman. In the early years of the NHL transitioning to the two-referees system, he decided to leave the lines to become a full-time referee, taking advantage of a program offered by the NHL to a few veteran linesmen in order to fill the demand for more NHL referees. He spent the next few seasons as a referee in the AHL and NHL getting accustomed to his new position. He would go on and work a total of 386 NHL Regular Season Games and 2 Playoff Games as a referee before deciding to return to the lines for good.

Shane Heyer retired on March 30, 2018, after skating in his final NHL game in Anaheim, CA. He left the ice that night with a final count of 2,016 NHL regular season games (386 as referee & 1,630 as linesman) and an impressive 214 NHL playoffs games.