Hockey player who lost family members in Rhode Island shooting scores OT goal to send team to championship
Sports can sometimes feel like a random, arbitrary collection of events, with winners and losers, heroes and villains decided by blind chance. Sometimes, though, the fate of sports can conspire to create an unbelievable story more fitting and just than any fiction.
On Wednesday, high school senior Colin Dorgan, whose mother, brother, and grandfather passed away in the tragic shooting that took place at a high school hockey in game in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on February 16th, scored the game-winning goal for Blackstone Valley Prep to send his team to Rhode Island’s Division II Championship game. The goal could not have occured more dramatically, coming on a breakaway in double overtime against Portsmouth High School.
Absolutely unreal moment. Colin Dorgan of Blackstone Valley, whose family members were killed in shooting at Lynch Arena, is OT hero
What a moment. Colin Dorgan, wearing a patch on his chest with the initials of his mom, brother and grandfather, scores the game-winning goal in double overtime, sending his team to the championship. @KaylaFishTV @coreywelch Don't miss it tonight on 12 News.
Dorgan wears a patch on the chest of his jersey that contains the initials of his mother, Rhonda Doran, brother, Aidan Dorgan, and grandfather, Gerald Dorgan, as a way to honor his lost loved ones.
In an interview with local media after the game, Dorgan talked about his much-deserved moment of glory.
“It was overtime,” Dorgan said. “I got caught on offense a little bit there. My good buddy Cam just fed me a puck and I just hear the crowd. But just to put it five hole, greatest moment of my life.”
No player on the ice was more worthy of being the hero than Dorgan. He and his surviving family members will never truly get justice for the devastating deaths of his mother, brother, and grandfather, but at the very least the hockey gods delivered some needed catharsis with Dorgan’s overtime winner on Wednesday.
According to Pawtucket police chief Tina Goncalves, the shooting that occured at Dennis M. Lynch arena killed Dorgan’s mother, brother, and grandfather, along with a suspect. Three others suffered injuries in the shooting, and the suspect, Rhonda’s ex-spouse Roberta Dorgano, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.