 As a teenager Burrows was selected the Most Valuable Defenseman and a First Team All-Star with the Dixie Beehives of the Metro Jr. B League.Originally the property of the Chicago Blackhawks organization, Burrows played his junior hockey with the Ontario Hockey Association's St. Catharines Black Hawks before turning pro with the Central Hockey League's Dallas Black Hawks in 1969.The defenseman would ultimately never play a game in Chicago, being claimed by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL's intra-league draft in June 1971.