PAWTUCKET — To the victors go the spoils.
The St. Raphael Academy community has still been riding high atop an emotional wave—with dips into the troughs between when remembering the pain that it took to get there—after the Blackstone Valley Co-op team, with eight Saints players, came from behind in quadruple overtime to notch a thrilling 3-2 finish against Lincoln High School on March 18 to win their first Rhode Island Division II state championship.
On Sunday, May 3, the entire Blackstone Valley Co-op team, along with parents and families and of the players, assembled for a joint celebration of their sweet victory, after falling short of the title for the previous two consecutive years, when they were defeated in the semi-finals by Portsmouth High School.
In the playoffs, they finally vanquished their nemesis, setting up an exciting, but heart-wrenching finish to the season that will long live on in the memories of all who participated.
They had been promised a surprise, but the secret was known only to a few. The team had already been honored by R.I. Gov. Dan McKee at the State House on March 31, so this had the makings of something even more spectacular, to bring everyone out on a Sunday afternoon.
The state hockey champs were not prepared for what would come next, when retired Boston Bruins star Patrice Bergeron emerged from behind drawn black curtains carrying the Holy Grail of the hockey world—the vaunted Stanley Cup—which he helped his fellow Bruins to win in 2011.
“Today is crazy, from not knowing anything at all to seeing Bergeron walk in with the Cup, I was shocked, I was in awe,” Colin Dorgan, a senior, told NHL.com Senior Director of Editorial Shawn P. Roarke, who covered the event at St. Raphael.
“I never got to see the Stanley Cup before. It’s great to see it now.”
Dorgan scored the goal to tie the score 2-2, with only 29 seconds left in the third period, to keep his team’s chances alive in the championship game.
North Smithfield senior Jaxon Boyes would go on to score the winning goal in the fourth overtime.
Just a month before that joyous victory, tragedy struck during the team’s run to the championship.
On February 16, as Dorgan was playing on the ice at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena, shots rang out as his mother, Rhonda Dorgan; brother, Aidan Dorgan; and grandfather, Gerald Dorgan, were killed in a targeted shooting in the stands at the team’s Senior Day game.
Two other individuals connected to the family were shot and wounded. Colin’s father, Robert Dorgan, identified by authorities as the shooter, then immediately turned the gun on himself.
Although difficult for the team, the players persevered, rallying around Dorgan, who was committed to getting back out on the ice to play through the pain of the tragedy.
It was just before noon when Bergeron, who lives about an hour away in Boston, pulled up to Saint Raphael.
He knew about the tragedy, but not about its effects, which are still rippling through the communities affected most. He said he just wanted to help and figured bringing the Cup might do the trick.
“The amount of resilience and courage they went through all year in order to win, it was a really inspiring story,” Bergeron told Roarke, of NHL.com. “It was so cool to see their reaction when I came in with the Cup. It really is a trophy that has an aura to it, brings a lot of joy and is always special. To have the opportunity to come here and make their day, also for myself to have a chance to be close to the Cup, is pretty special.”
“We were able to bring some smiles along with the Cup,” he added. “I think it’s a real easy thing to do. Sometimes the power of reaching out and supporting makes a big difference. For me to come here and spend a little time with them and bring a smile to their faces or bring a little joy or make this rainy day a little more of a sunny day, I am happy to do. I had a lot of fun, just as much fun as they had.”
Roarke reported that the players made a beeline to the trophy, marveling at it, examining it, having pictures taken with it. At one point, Makenna Rivard, a 1-year-old, was brought to the forefront and a roar went up from the players and the parents as cameras clicked.
Rivard is the younger sister of Nick Rivard, a sophomore on the team. She has been at every game since coming home from the hospital and has been adopted as a mascot of sorts, Roarke reported.
When the team was going through counseling sessions after the shooting, Makenna was often around, helping lift some of the sadness.
“She would come around and we kind of gave her the nickname of ‘Therapy Baby,’” Saint Raphael Academy senior Jaxon Boyes, who scored the winning goal in the championship game, told Roarke. “Just seeing her made everyone so much better, made everyone laugh and be happy. She became our team mascot, and it was just so sweet.”
At the time of the shooting, Bishop Bruce Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., privately offered personal words of consolation and prayers over Dorgan and his team members after the tragedy, and attended subsequent games, rooting for the team from the stands more energetically than many parents in attendance.
The bishop visited the locker room at the Amica Center to offer a pep talk and a prayer as the players were preparing to take to the ice for the championship game. The scene was captured by cameras from ESPN, which interviewed him afterwards.
Bishop Lewandowski encouraged the players, saying the key to victory was to never stop believing in themselves, no matter what happens out there.
“I had zero doubt that they would win today,” the bishop told Rhode Island Catholic at the Amica Center on March 18 as he headed back to the locker room to congratulate the team on its victory.
Since winning the title coach Chris Librizzi admitted there have been ups and downs for his team, which is still processing the community altering tragedy.
“It was kind of emotional to see them smile again because they have been in a little bit of a doldrum,” Librizzi said. “They have been struggling; some kids more than others have been struggling since we had the championship game.”
Roarke reported that Sunday was, in a way, a stark reminder of all this team has been through, the scars still fresh and raw, but it also hinted at what lies ahead. There are 10 seniors on the team, each soon to depart and find his own path in the world, but the bond they have forged will never be broken.
“It’s a band of brothers, it’s something so close you can’t get with anyone else,” Boyes said. “We are bonded by trauma, but we all have a love for each other that is so unreal and we are going to be a family forever because we won this championship.”
