A high school hockey star scored the goal that sent his team to the championship – just weeks after his transgender father shot dead three members of their family in the stands.
Colin Dorgan scored the overtime winner to help Blackstone Valley Schools Co-op secure a 3-2 victory over Portsmouth and reach the Rhode Island Division 2 final.
It comes less than a month after Robert Dorgan killed his son and ex-wife during a game at Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket.
Aidan Dorgan, 23, was killed alongside his mother Rhonda, 52, while Colin, 17, was playing on the ice. He watched the tragedy unfold, with his grandparents also among those injured. Dorgan’s grandfather, Gerald, later died.
Fifty-six-year-old Robert Dorgan, who also went by Roberta Esposito, ended the rampage by killing himself.
Rhonda died at the scene, while both Aidan and Gerald later succumbed to their injuries. Colin’s grandmother Linda was also critically hurt along with a family friend, Thomas Geruso.
Pictured left to right: Ava, Rhonda, Aidan and Colin Dorgan
Robert Dorgan, who also went by ‘Roberta Esposito’, killed three people including his ex-wife and son before turning the gun on himself
The Rhode Island Interscholastic League was suspended in the wake of the tragedy but on Wednesday night, Dorgan was back on the ice.
‘It was the greatest moment of my life,’ he told WPRI after scoring the winning goal. ‘My good buddy fed me the puck and I could hear the crowd… it was a surreal moment.’
Dorgan, who paid tribute to his lost loved ones by carrying their initials on his jersey, added: ‘We have to stick together… it’s a hard time for everyone. We have each other’s back and we truly love each other.’
He called his teammates ‘my brothers’ and afterwards head coach Chris Librizzi told WPRI: ‘I literally cried like a baby, the floodgates opened… when I saw him open, I knew he was golden.’
Pictures showed the coach embracing Dorgan after the winning goal and Librizzi revealed how the team has looked out for Colin and his sister, Ava, following the shooting.
‘We got together every single day,’ Librizzi said. ‘We skated, worked out, or had dinner at night together for 14 days straight. I believe that made a difference.’
The championship game will take place in Providence on March 18.
Robert Dorgan, meanwhile, appeared to post ominous warnings in the days before the bloodbath. An online profile that appears to belong to him shared an eerie video of a woman running on a treadmill while loading ammunition magazines into a handgun and aiming.
Aidan Dorgan (left) was shot by his transgender father Robert Dorgan (right) earlier this year
In another post on X, a profile for ‘Roberta Dorgano’ threatened to go ‘BERSERK’ while defending transgender Congresswoman Sarah McBride.
‘Keep bashing us,’ they wrote Sunday. ‘But do not wonder why we Go BESERK [sic].’
After the attack, a GoFundMe page was set up by Rhonda’s stepdaughter Amanda Wallace-Hubbard.
‘The weight of this loss is something no one should ever have to bear, especially at such young ages,’ Wallace-Hubbard wrote.
‘Despite the pain, Ava and Colin are determined to continue their education and build a life that honors the memory of our loved ones.’
