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Colin Dorgan stepped up for his Rhode Island high school ice hockey team once again, and this time it came in the championship.
Dorgan scored the game-tying goal for Blackstone Valley Schools with less than a minute left in the third period against Lincoln High School in the Division 2 boys’ state championship. It led to four nerve-racking overtime periods before Blackstone finally won the game, 3-2, and secured the championship.
He helped get Blackstone Valley to the championship game itself last week when he scored the game-winning goal in double overtime.
The moment on Wednesday came weeks after a tragic shooting occurred during one of his games in Rhode Island. A shooter identified by police as Robert Dorgan fatally shot his ex-wife, Rhonda Dorgan, at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket. His son Aidan Dorgan and father, Gerald Dorgan, were also fatally wounded in the shooting.
The shooter, who identified as transgender, also went by the names Roberta Esposito and Roberta Dorgano, authorities said, adding the shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Dorgan said after the championship that he was nervous about returning, but he had immense support from family, friends and teammates to get him off the couch and back onto the ice.
“Throughout all of the playoffs, even this game and the overtimes, I truly felt it in my heart and my soul that they’re still with me,” Dorgan said. “I love them so much.”
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Blackstone Valley head coach Chris Librizzi was emotional before the game started.
“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. It’s a tragedy we all went through and are still healing from it,” he said.
Librizzi gave the team the option of not returning after the shooting and encouraged anyone who made the choice to step away from the team to still show up on the bench or in the stands.
Every player came back.
“I sent Colin a text saying, ‘Bud, playoffs are this Friday night, it’s your call,” Librizzi said. “He didn’t respond all day, but at about 9 o’clock at night, he sent me a text saying, ‘Coach I’ll see you tomorrow at practice.'”
Dorgan credited his sister, Ava, with helping him push through the misery.
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“She’s very tough, she’s a tough girl. And I thank her, because she just totally filled the shoes of my mom,” he said. “You eventually get back into a cycle to where you gotta get up off the couch. That’s the biggest and first step to recovery.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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