Bruins welcome Rhode Island high school champs still 'moving forward' from shooting

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins dressing room was packed on Monday, the crush more like the Stanley Cup Playoffs than a weekday practice in the second-to-last month of the regular season. 

But it wasn't the usual crowd.

Instead, the Bruins had invited the Rhode Island Division II State Champion hockey team, the Blackstone Valley Co-op team, to Warrior Ice Arena, giving them a chance to get on the ice with the NHL club, tour the behind-the-scenes of their facilities -- even meeting with David Pastrnak in the training room -- and interact with players they've only seen on TV.

They had won the high school state championship on Wednesday, tying the game late in regulation and winning in quadruple overtime. 

The tying goal came from Colin Dorgan with about 30 seconds left in regulation. 

Just one 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 in Providence. Colin's father, Robert Dorgan, was identified by police as the shooter. He also was killed. 

"It's amazing how the community can rally for us, all the gifts we've gotten, it's so special," team co-captain Camden Governo said Monday. "We're so grateful for everything we've gotten. There's nothing better than the community we have. We're still moving forward. We're still recovering. But we're definitely doing good after that championship win."

As Governo spoke, the team gathered behind him, they cheered his sentiments.

"These are all my brothers," Governo said. "I love all these guys."

On the jerseys the team wore on Wednesday, there was a red heart patch with the initials of the family members who were killed, RD, AD, and GD.

"It's awesome," Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman said, of hosting the team. "It's really cool when you get to see a local team like that come in and support you guys and obviously, we're doing the same for them.

"What they've been through, the hockey world is such a tight-knit community, it's a family, and whenever we get an opportunity like this, we really cherish it. It's so cool to have these guys in the locker room and to see their excitement and really enjoy the good things that hockey brings every day."

As Dorgan talked to a camera, Swayman threw his arm around him and later handed over a goalie stick to goalie Jacob Faria. 

“These people right here, they’re really not just my teammates. They’re more brothers to me. We have really come together as one family,” Dorgan said. “All of our connections, our bonds together, and these memories that we’re making -- we’re all making them together. We won together, we lost together. We’re all in it together.”

On the ice, the two teams took a photo together, with Blackstone Valley in the front and the Bruins gathered around the back. 

It was meaningful for both sides.

"Just a sad story, but also a wonderful story, the way they responded and winning. Just to have them here, they were so excited to see David in the training room, maybe get a massage, just little things like that. … That was probably the best moment today.

"This is what I love about hockey, about hockey teams, because we're all the same."