N.H. brothers race to help teammate who collapsed during pickup hockey game

By Lauren Dezenski, Globe Correspondent

Two New Hampshire brothers jumped into action Thursday night after a man on their pickup men’s hockey league team collapsed on the ice.

With five minutes left in the game, Jake MacGlashing, 32, of Rye and his brother Jesse, 37, of Pittsfield saw a teammate fall to the ice of a rink in Rochester, N.H., having what first appeared to be a seizure.

“But after two minutes, we lost his pulse,” MacGlashing said, who then called the arena manager to bring a defibrillator.

He and his brother, who had experience as a paramedic and a former operating room nurse, respectively, used the device to shock the man, who, they said, appeared to be having a heart attack. After he and his brother delivered two shocks, paramedics arrived and delivered another shock, he said.

MacGlashing said though he recognized the man’s face, he only knew his first name, Chris.

By the time the man was transported to Frisbie Hospital in Rochester, his pulse and blood pressure had returned, MacGlashing said.

MacGlashing said he spoke with hospital representatives and as of last night, Chris is now in a medically induced coma. MacGlashing said he and his brother were lucky to be on the ice and both have medical experience.

“I wish we could say we got him back 100 percent, but that’s not clear yet,” MacGlashing said.