Stanley Cup visit creates priceless smiles for Blackstone Valley Co-op team

PAWTUCKET, Rhode Island -- The smiles were priceless.

The gym at Saint Raphael Academy was filled with players from the Blackstone Valley Co-op high school hockey team and their families. A surprise was in the offing, but nobody really knew what.

Then, suddenly, retired Boston Bruins star Patrice Bergeron walked through the drawn black curtains carrying a special friend, the Stanley Cup, which he helped the Bruins win in 2011.

The surprise pulled off, the delight palpable.

"Today is crazy, from not knowing anything at all to seeing Bergeron walk in with the Cup, I was shocked, I was in awe," said Colin Dorgan, a senior. "I never got to see the Stanley Cup before. It's great to see it now."

The trophy and Bergeron were on hand to help commemorate the Rhode Island Division II state championship won March 18 with a dramatic 3-2 victory against Lincoln High School in four overtimes that was forged in a cauldron of tragedy and tempered by healing.

The tying goal in that game came from Dorgan with about 30 seconds left in the third period. Dorgan also scored the winner in double overtime in the semifinals.

Just a month earlier, Colin's mother, Rhonda Dorgan, brother, Aidan Dorgan, and grandfather, Gerald Dorgan, were killed in a shooting in the stands at the team's Senior Day game at Dennis M. Lynch Arena on Feb. 16. Colin's father, Robert Dorgan, was identified by police as the shooter. He also was killed.

Since winning the title down the road at Amica Mutual Pavilion in downtown Providence, 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 doldrum," Librizzi said. "They have been struggling; some kids more than others have been struggling since we had the championship game.

"It was great that we won, don't get me wrong. It was an emotional game. It's like a roller coaster of emotions. You win it and you are on a high for a whole and then after we separate and we are not together with each of us like we have been since March 18, you start to think about all the events. Today it was a special for them all to get together and reunite and have Patrice bring the Cup to them."

Bergeron didn't know much of that when he pulled up with the Stanley Cup just before noon. He knew about the tragedy living nearby in Boston, of course, but he couldn't know the ripples that are still being felt. He just wanted to help and figured 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 said. "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. 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."

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.

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,'" said senior Jaxon Boyes, who scored the winning goal in the championship game. "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."

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."

There was also a reminder that these remain teenaged boys, resilient and full of energy.

While parents and others took pictures with the guests of honor, the players peeled off and started playing hacky sack, trying to get the ball into the basketball net nearby. After a while, Bergeron excused himself from the parents and joined the kids in a raucous game, using his chest and his feet to propel the ball around the circle.

After the basketball net challenge was conquered, an even more bold idea was launched by the boys, one unlikely to be topped as the hacky sack challenge takes over social media.

Let's try to get the ball into the bowl of the Stanley Cup, they said.

Try after try was made without success. Finally, Bergeron started a sequence with the sack and then raced to the table the Cup was resting upon and picked it up, bringing the trophy to the airborne sack and guiding it to a safe landing.

Bedlam erupted, Bergeron holding the Cup, looking like an older, street-clothes-clad version of the player that hoisted it 15 years earlier.

"I didn't want to disappoint them," Bergeron said after, grinning.

Another of the priceless smiles.