Brent Burns' dad took him to get his 1st tattoo ... at age 11

Size and talent alone would have had Brent Burns on a pedestal back in his minor hockey days, but he was the coolest cat in the locker room for more reasons than one.

In an entertaining Q-and-A with ESPN's Tal Pinchevsky - in which the two discuss Burns' snakes, beard, and love for the UFC - the heavily-inked San Jose Sharks defenseman said he got his first tattoo with his father when he was 11 years old.

"First one I got was a Canadian flag with a hockey stick," Burns said. "I was 11 years old, my parents took me. My dad was going to get one and asked me if I wanted to go get one. He said, 'As long as it's not a boneheaded idea, I'll let you do it.'

"It was a pretty cool thing to get tattooed with your dad."

No kidding, man.