Electricity is a Potent Force of Shock

By CLYNTON NAMUO
New Hampshire Union Leader Correspondent
DOVER – Dover High School junior Kyle DuBois was going to play in a national hockey championship game today, but was so seriously shocked during an electrician class Thursday that he remained hospitalized in critical condition yesterday, his coach said.

DuBois played for the Eastern Kodiaks, a junior hockey team based in Exeter, and was scheduled to practice with the team Thursday, the first time he would have done so since ending his high school season last weekend, Kodiaks coach Wayne Sheehan said.

"He was supposed to play for us this weekend," he said. "We're playing for a national championship in Stoneham, Mass., this weekend, so we're going to miss him."

The team plays in the Super Elite Division of Independent Junior A Hockey, in the International Junior Hockey League, Sheehan said.
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Dover High School student Kyle DuBois is in a Boston hospital after being shocked Thursday at school.

DuBois was in a class that teaches students to be electricians and was working on an electrical panel when he was shocked. The jolt caused him to stop breathing, officials said, and his heart may have stopped.

Officials have said the electrical panel ran on a standard 120 volt current that had been scaled down.

Teacher Thomas Kelley performed CPR with the help of a school nurse and another teacher, Superintendent John O'Connor said previously. They resuscitated him, and his vital signs were good when he was taken to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, O'Connor said.

His condition appeared to be serious Thursday afternoon when he was taken via helicopter to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He was in critical condition there yesterday, the hospital said.

Police are investigating precisely what happened and provided no new details yesterday.

Officers are interviewing students (there were about 14 in the class when DuBois was shocked) and have also spoken to Kelley, Lt. David Terlemezian said.

"We just continue to investigate in order to determine the best we can what happened," he said.

Sheehan said DuBois is well-liked.

"Kyle is a super young man," he said. "He's a kid that everybody in the locker room wanted to hang out with, outgoing, personable, a heck of a competitor and a great man off the ice."

Sheehan said Kyle has been a great athlete.

"In terms of playing for me, we try to get the kids in a position where they can go play college hockey," he said. "Kyle certainly had the talent."

Sheehan said everyone on the team is hoping Kyle will get better.

"You never had to tell Kyle to work hard," he said. "That determination is hopefully what will help him get through."