Alex Burrows sorry for taunting Patrick O’Sullivan about abusive father
Patrick O’Sullivan has opened up about the depths of abuse he suffered from his father as a young player, with harrowing tales of physical and mental anguish in a new book that was excerpted on The Players Tribune.
“From the moment I got my first pair of hockey skates at five years old, I got the living [crap] kicked out of me every single day. Every day after hockey, no matter how many goals I scored, he would hit me. The man was 6-foot-2, 250 lbs. It would start as soon as we got in the car, and sometimes right out in the parking lot,” wrote O’Sullivan.
The abuse led to fear and PTSD as O’Sullivan forged ahead with a pro hockey career, playing with the Los Angeles Kings, Edmonton Oilers and Carolina Hurricanes among others. It was something that other players knew about, and wasn’t something that they made light of.
Well, except for one player.
On Thursday, O’Sullivan revealed that Alex Burrows of the Vancouver Canucks, a notorious pest, was the “only guy who said he wanted to hurt me like me father did [which is] why I can't stand him.” O’Sullivan said Burrows used the taunt once in the minors and once in the NHL.
Burrows was confronted about the comments as the Canucks were in Philadelphia to face the Flyers, and apologized for using child abuse to gain a competitive advantage over an opponent:
Burrows - "8-10 years I said some stuff. I do regret lots of things I said back in the day"
— Dan Murphy (@sportsnetmurph) December 18, 2015
Burrows says that the O'Sullivan back story is bigger than he ever thought and he apologizes now that he knows the magnitude.
— Dan Murphy (@sportsnetmurph) December 18, 2015
Burrows says back in the day he would say anything to get in someone's kitchen to get them off their game. Regrets some of it now. (Cont)
— Dan Murphy (@sportsnetmurph) December 18, 2015
Burrows says he was looking for any edge to help him keep a job in the NHL. Maintains Tootoo talk was within the boundaries. #Canucks
— Dan Murphy (@sportsnetmurph) December 18, 2015
Please recall that this is the second time Burrows’ mouth earned him negative headlines this season. Last month, Jordin Tootoo of the New Jersey Devils said Burrows taunted him with something "classless and unacceptable in this day and age.”
Burrows denied the comments had anything to do with Tootoo’s race or substance abuse problems, saying, “What I said I've been told the same in the past and I've heard it plenty of times throughout my career, so I kind of wish it would have stayed on the ice where it belongs.”
The controversy with O’Sullivan earned Burrows a strong rebuke from Vancouver Province columnist Ed Willes:
Against this backdrop. Burrows’ actions are indefensible. Yes, there’s a timeline there, and, yes, the full picture of O’Sullivan’s ordeal has only emerged after his retirement. But this is child abuse. This is on a whole different level.
Burrows has to own this one, and if he’s the person we think he is, he’ll make amends. But there’s another issue here and it concerns the credo outlined above; the belief that anything is acceptable in the name of winning and gaining an edge.
Other Vancouver writers felt the child abuse O’Sullivan endured was fair game:
@SocialAssassin2 @paul_wb_wtf So if he's a comedian, he can say it, but if he's trying to win a hockey game he can't? huh
— Jason Botchford (@botchford) December 18, 2015
Listen to our interview with Patrick O’Sullivan on Marek Vs. Wyshynski here:
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
