Referee revived by hockey player after medical emergency on ice

WELLESLEY, Mass. — A referee was revived by a hockey player after suffering a medical emergency on the ice on Tuesday.

The 52-year-old official collapsed due to an apparent cardiac event just five minutes into a men’s league game at Boston Sports Institute in Wellesley.

Several hockey players rushed to his aid as he lay facedown on the ice. Some players flipped him over and ripped their jerseys off, placing them underneath his head and neck.

“I had the puck, and everything just kind of stopped. I didn’t really know why,” said Miles Denney. “I skated over. [The referee] was laying facedown on the ice… He was twitching a bit. He kind of started turning blue and he stopped breathing.”

Denney’s teammate, Tom Parker, was on the bench when he realized something was wrong.

“Someone on the other team came by asking if I knew CPR, and that’s when it hit me, like, this is real,” Parker said.

Parker barely hesitated a moment before fresh training kicked in. The 24-year-old, who is finishing up a seven-week EMT course, started CPR.

Meanwhile, the Zamboni operator rushed to retrieve the automated external defibrillator (AED) mounted on the wall, a spokesperson for the facility said.

“I checked for the pulse. I didn’t feel it. So I started doing compressions,” Parker said. “And then, once the AED was available, I applied that and gave him one shock, and then gave him more compressions until the paramedics showed up.”

By that time, the official was breathing again, and, within minutes, talking and joking, Parker said.

First responders were impressed by Parker, telling him he likely saved the man’s life. But Parker insists it was a team effort.

“I’m so thankful for my teammates… They cut through the guy’s shirt, they called 911,” Parker said. “I was in the right place at the right time, and thankfully my training paid off. I’m just grateful that he’s doing okay.”

Parker said he was told Wednesday the referee was stable in the hospital and hoping to be released soon.

“I hope I can see him on the ice again,” Parker said.

Parker will take his last EMT class Saturday and his final exam Wednesday. He hopes to work as an EMT as he applies to medical school to become a doctor.

Tuesday’s event confirmed to him he is headed on the right career path.

“The two pillars of myself are just hockey and medicine,” Parker said. “So it was just – I wouldn’t say cosmic – but I would say interesting how those two kind of came together.”

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