A month after three members of Colin Dorgan’s family were killed in a shooting at a Pawtucket hockey arena, the high school senior helped his team win the Division 2 state championship.
As Dorgan stood before a roaring crowd at Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, three seats were empty where his mother, brother and grandfather should have been. The shooting, which occurred while Dorgan was playing with his Blackstone Valley Co-op teammates, took the lives of his mother Rhonda Dorgan, his brother Aidan and his grandfather Gerald Dorgan. Police have identified the shooter as Robert Dorgan, who authorities say also used other names; he died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after bystanders intervened. Two others were severely injured.
The team wore a red heart on their jerseys with the initials of Dorgan’s relatives. Dorgan, who returned to the lineup and served as team captain, said he could feel his family’s presence. “I truly felt it in my heart and my soul that they’re still with me,” he said after the title game.
Blackstone Valley reached the championship after an emotional playoff run that included Dorgan scoring a game-winning goal in double overtime earlier in the postseason. In the final against Lincoln High School, Dorgan tied the score late, sending the match into four tense overtime periods. Jaxon Boyes finally netted the winner, and Blackstone Valley prevailed 3-2.
Head coach Chris Librizzi said the season had been an emotional four weeks. “It’s just a game for Lincoln High School and for everybody that’s coming here, but for us who lived through that shooting? It’s our lives,” he said. Librizzi described the team’s bond as a brotherhood and credited their unity for carrying them through. He said players attended daily workouts and counseling sessions and that an outpouring of support from across North America made a difference. “We won this tournament because of love,” he said.
Dorgan said he was initially nervous to return and talk with teammates, but that his teammates embraced him like family. He credited his mother for teaching him a “grind it out” mindset—go to practice, work hard—and said that perseverance helped the team through the playoffs and to the championship.
The title provided a cathartic moment for a team grappling with grief and trauma. Librizzi, visibly emotional before the game, said the experience of losing loved ones and coming back together gave the season special meaning. Players, coaches and the crowd applauded, cried and held their breath through three periods before the extended overtime drama ended in celebration for Blackstone Valley.