Rusty Weiss
In an awe-inspiring display of courage and perseverance, 17-year-old Colin Dorgan scored the game-winning goal in double overtime Wednesday night, lifting the Blackstone Valley boys’ high school hockey team to a 3-2 victory over Portsmouth and punching their ticket to the Division II championship game.
Dorgan’s father, Robert Dorgan, who also went by the name “Roberta Esposito,” fatally shot his ex-wife, Rhonda Dorgan, his son Aidan Dorgan, and his father, Gerald Dorgan, at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket just last month.
Colin, who was on the ice when the horror unfolded, delivered the decisive tally in what he told local media was “the greatest moment of my life.”
His performance capped a playoff run that had seen him contribute multiple goals, turning grief into pure grit just weeks after a devastating family tragedy had rocked the Rhode Island community.
🚨 New video shows people fleeing and hiding as gunshots rang out at an ice skating rink in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 16, 2026
🎥: @EricRueb https://t.co/1vNNzYFkEo pic.twitter.com/3NBbyJacn0
Hockey Star Scores Clutch Goal Weeks After Trans Father’s Deadly Rampage
It’s difficult to imagine the emotional pain he has been suffering since that fateful day. But it’s clear Colin has decided to keep living life to its fullest.
Colin was actively playing when the shots rang out, a horrifying scene that shattered his family and tested the resolve of an entire team.
The case has drawn national attention for the shooter’s gender identity and the personal conflicts authorities say preceded the attack, leaving Colin and his surviving sister to face an unimaginable future without their mother, brother, and grandfather.
Colin Dorgan, whose mother, brother & grandfather were murdered in Rhode Island by his trans father at a hockey game last month, scored the game-winning goal in double OT, sending his high school team to the championship.
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) March 12, 2026
Great story of resilience.
pic.twitter.com/OAxrFiqFqX
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Yet in the aftermath, the Blackstone Valley squad rallied as one, with coach Chris Librizzi noting the group came together daily for two straight weeks to support Colin and his sister, forging a bond he called “nothing less than superior.”
“The biggest thing for us after the tragedy took place was to keep them together as a family,” Librizzi told WPRI-TV. “I was with him every single day, and his sister, and we as a group, as well, got together for 14 days straight.
“And I believe it made a difference. The bonding that this team went through every day the last two weeks has been nothing less than superior.”
That unity paid off on the ice, where Dorgan’s heroics not only honored the memory of his lost loved ones but reminded Americans that even in the darkest hours, faith, family, and fortitude can produce moments of pure triumph.
The young man has refused to let evil define his story.