Ex-NHL Player Patrick O'Sullivan On Abusive Father: "I Thought It Was Normal"

Former NHL center Patrick O’Sullivan wrote a powerful piece for The Players Tribune this week, about his relationship with his abusive father.

"So let me be really clear about what happened to me. From the moment I got my first pair of hockey skates at five years old, I got the living shit 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. By the time I was 10, it got worse. He would put cigarettes out on me. Choke me. Throw full soda cans at my head. Every time I stepped on the ice, I knew that my play would determine just how bad I got it when we got home. I’d score a hat trick, and afterward we’d get in the car and he would tell me that I played “like a faggot” (that was his favorite term, which says a lot)."

O’Sullivan called on the hockey community to exhibit “real courage” and stand up to abusive parenting. “I’m not writing this article for my father. I’m writing it for the people in the parking lot.”