Patrick O’Sullivan recalls line-crossing chirps by Alex Burrows

Patrick O’Sullivan has committed his life-after-hockey time to ensuring that kids everywhere have an enjoyable life involving hockey. It’s commendable, really, when you consider how much of it involves him speaking from his personal experiences with domestic abuse. Whether it’s his gut-wrenching Players Tribune article or his countless interviews, O’Sullivan has been very transparent bout the abuse that his father subjected him to throughout his youth with the belief that it would help him succeed.

While this is the first time that O’Sullivan has gone into detail, the general history of the abuse was relatively well-known. So much so, O’Sullivan said on Twitter today, that Canucks forward Alex Burrows used it to try to get into his head.

Assuming that this is true, which, given O’Sullivan’s transparency, we have no reason not to, this is just another quote in a Burrow’s long-standing history of crossing the perceived line in an attempt to gain a competitive advantage. Earlier this season, Burrows was accused by Jordin Tootoo of bringing family history into the conversation during a game, and it’s been previously suggested that Burrows has also been overly personal with David Backes and Mike Richards in the past.

“Chirping” in hockey has become a highly debated subject. Competitive sports are high-stakes and high-emotion, especially at the professional level, so players will do just about anything to get an edge, including trying to get into the heads fo their opponents. Burrows, as we’ve seen over the years, is one of the best at taking his opponents’ focus away from their games.

At the same time, the abuse that O’Sullivan suffered is a very serious subject; hence, why he’s going on a crusade to try to prevent it from happening in other households now that he has the time to commit to it. The fact that Burrows has used it as chirp fodder not once, but twice isn’t a good look. You can’t really punish him for the actions retroactively, though give the situation, it would be nice to see Burrows come out and apologize and possibly even offer some assistance in O’Sullivan’s efforts.