Off-Duty Braintree Firefighter Helps Man Collapsed at Ice Rink

Ryan Pugsley was talking with his friends in the parking lot outside Connell Rink in Weymouth last week when a woman came outside and asked them to move their vehicles.

A man had fallen on the ice and an ambulance was on the way. Pugsley asked what had happened, learned that the man was not breathing and sprang into action.

Pugsley, a U.S. Marine veteran and off-duty Braintree firefighter, found the man lying in the middle of the ice, assessed the situation and began CPR. Police arrived with a defibrillator and then the fire department took over chest compressions.

The man, who Pugsley later learned from Weymouth police was a 44-year-old with several children, was taken to the hospital and was awake and talking shortly thereafter.

Pugsley, in an interview following the incident last Wednesday night, said he was not even supposed to be playing hockey that night. It was not his typical game. He joined a pickup game at 9 p.m. after he got called in as one of the only goalies available.

It was around 10:30 p.m., after Pugsley and his fellow players had showered and were getting ready to leave, when the rink attendant burst into the parking lot.

"The second you hear somebody’s not breathing, you got to do what you got to do," Pugsley said. "It’s training that you do over and over.” 

It was the first time Pugsley had performed CPR off-duty, he said. Usually, when responding as a firefighter, someone on scene has already begun CPR, with the aid of 911 personnel. But his training quickly kicked into gear.

Pugsley served two tours of duty overseas, in Iraq and Afghanistan, as a Marine. As part of his training he took a combat lifesavers course, though he never had to perform CPR while serving abroad. 

"It was definitely a relief," when the police returned and told him the man was OK, Pugsley said. A spokesman for the Weymouth police did not respond to messages seeking information about the victim.