He played junior hockey in the Western Hockey League for the Kelowna Wings, Spokane Chiefs, and the Portland Winter Hawks. The Detroit Red Wings chose him 29th overall in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft. Sharples turned pro with the Wings in 1987-88 and scored 10 goals and 25 assists. That production dropped the next season and he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers. Neither that or a subsequent trade to the New Jersey Devils brought him back to the NHL. He spent the balance of his career in the International League, mostly with the Las Vegas Thunder and the Utah Grizzlies. Sharples retired in 2000.