Patrick O'Sullivan p. 1| 2 |3

Arson and Assclowns.

That pretty much sums up our interview with the CHL's Rookie Of The Year.

Sure, Sully may be the most gifted player RinkRat's ever interviewed...but don't let that fool you.

This kid's got the heart of a delinquent, and a personality that screams prima donna. A definite RRM classic...

RinkRat: You're the first rookie ever interviewed in RinkRat Magazine. What does that honour mean to you?

Patrick O'Sullivan: It's a tremendous honour. Take a look at the past players interviewed and it's usually the older guys, the veterans with a lot of stories to tell. Being a young kid, and being interviewed on RinkRat is going to be a lot of fun.

This year with the IceDogs, was it everything you thought it would be?

It was everything I thought it would be and maybe a little more. Quite a lot of funny shit has happened over the season, and from the hockey stand point I thought I had a pretty good season. Our team had a fairly good year, I mean not the season we wanted but it was a franchise best in wins and points. It could of been a lot worse.

Where exactly are you from?

It's funny, I'm mentioned from being all over the place - Toronto, Michigan, North Carolina, all over the world - but I am from North Carolina. That's where I grew up, and that's where I live in the summer. Winston-Salem, North Carolina is where I'm from, and that's my hometown.

But you were actually born in Canada.

It's an unfortunate incident but, yeah I was born in Canada. My parents were there and I was born a little early...I stayed there for three days and went back home.

Are you ashamed of being born in Canada?

Not necessarily ashamed, but I take a lot of shit for being born there when I'm in the States. But I guess it's ok when I'm playing there, people have a little more respect for me. The whole dual citizenship thing is an advantage.

But you don't consider yourself Canadian do you?

Not really not when it comes to the Olympics, or anything patriotic. I feel after playing for my country last year and just being involved in something like that, I just consider myself American. I've lived most of my life in the States and most of my family is American.

Don Cherry is a proud Canadian, and great hockey mind. What did you learn from him as head coach?

Mostly off-ice issues, dealing with the media and such. He's a seasoned veteran with things like that, he tried to help out the kids as much as possible. On ice he was really focused on the defensive aspects, and working with the defencemen. He told great stories about Boston and all the other old shit he used to talk about. It was a lot of fun, and definitely a learning experience this year.

If Don was taking care of the D, does that mean Steve Cherry was taking care of the offense?

Yeah, Steve was definitely taking care of the offense. I guess he did a good job, we had some good forwards though.

So would you attribute your success to Steve Cherry?

I don't know about attributing anything to Steve Cherry from a personal standpoint. Most of my success probably came from where I played last year, playing in the US National program. I did learn quite a bit from Joe Washkurk, the other asst. coach. He was a real winner, not in the team aspect obviously, when you lose 47 games then no one's a winner. But he's a good guy and a great coach, and hopefully he'll be there next year.

You think you can make the playoffs next year?

I'll be telling the boys that our goal is to make the playoffs. We've had four or five shitbag seasons that were not fun for anyone. I know last year was one of the hardest years of hockey I've ever had to play with regards to losing. We went through tough times, and I'm definitely not going to accept any of that next year.

Who is the bigger genius? Trevor Whiffen or Don Cherry?

Trevor Whiffen, he's made some of the finer trades in OHL history, I must say. I definitely give the nod to Trevor.

Favourite IceDogs trade?

The Jason Spezza deal, the trade heard world wide. The guys they got in return for Jason were first-class athletes themselves and great guys off the ice. That was quite the trade.

Spezza is one of your idols isn't he? Isn't that why you wear no. 9?

Uhhh, most definately not. It's a good number, a lot of skilled players wear it, but spezz is not my idol he's a great guy I met him at the all star game this year, but my idol is Mannie Fresh from the Big Tymers rap group because he's a bad ass.

Defensive game. Do you have one?

I do, but it's pretty hard to find sometimes. Playing as much a I did, I definitely had some lazy shifts. I really don't like to cross my own blueline (laughs) but it's something I have to work on.