Author: Eli Cloutier

The Belmont Marauders got their playoffs going with a 6-0 win over Bishop Feehan. (Eli Cloutier/Belmont Voice)

Coach Tim Foley can’t say enough good things about sophomore Liam Guilderson. The first two words Foley used to describe him were “skilled and fast.”

Guilderson used his elite speed and puck skills to net a hat trick, propelling Belmont to a 6-0 win over Bishop Feehan at Ryan Arena in the first round of the Division 1 state tournament.

“He’s a player that has the old school creativity with new school skills,” Foley said postgame.

The Marauders jumped in front just 35 seconds into the first period as Guilderson buried his first of the game from the slot.

Unfortunately for the Shamrocks, their best look of the opening frame led directly to Guilderson’s second tally of the period.

Junior Christopher Morrison rang the right post from the slot, but Belmont jumped out in transition, speeding through the neutral zone. Guilderson picked out the top corner of the net from the left circle to give Belmont a 2-0 lead just 3:19 in.

Bishop Feehan responded after falling behind early, generating quality looks off stout forechecking, but sophomore netminder, Ethan Bauer, was up to the task.

Bauer, who’s grown in confidence as the season’s progressed, was excellent throughout, earning his fourth shutout of the season.

“He’s given us a chance to win almost every game we’ve been in this year,” Foley said. “You know that he’s gonna come to play.”

Senior Nolan Kelleher pushed the Marauders’ lead to 3-0 at 4:27 of the second period. From behind the net, freshman Gabe Kioumejian found Kelleher driving the net, who beat Shamrocks goalie Logan Petrucci for his third of the year.

“He’s always in the opponent’s face,” Foley said. “And that’s a good thing.”

Guilderson completed the hat trick at 5:30 of the third period. After a clean toe drag to center the puck in the slot, he beat Petrucci glove side high to make it 4-0.

Freshman Henry Packard scored his first varsity goal at 6:39 of the final frame. His older brother, junior Leo, assisted the tally.

“Scoring that goal with his brother is huge,” Foley said. “It’s very important that they’re able to bond with each other.”

Freshman Thomas Courtney’s power play goal at 10:12 of the third sealed the deal for the Marauders.

Up next for Belmont is Winchester, whom the Marauders have already beaten twice this season, 4-1 and 3-1. Despite that, Foley is still looking for more out of his team.

“We need to play the whole 45 minutes at the pace that we’re capable of playing at,” he said.

Before the Belmont High School girls hockey team began its quest for a state title, Coach Brendan Kelleher told his captain to “go out and write the script.”

That’s precisely what senior Sadie Taylor did.

Just 52 seconds into the Marauders 2-0 win over Arlington Catholic in the first round of the Division 1 state tournament, Taylor’s 13th goal of the season gave Belmont the lead.

Driving the net, Taylor received a feed from freshman Alexcia Fici and beat Cougars goalie Katlin Sacco.

“Sadie’s the engine that drives this thing,” Kelleher said postgame. “Her energy and compete levels are through the roof.”

The game took a fast pace early, with Belmont forechecking hard. As a result, Arlington Catholic struggled to break the puck out.

“Today was a day that we wanted to turn the aggressive meter up a little bit,” Kelleher said.

The Cougars best look of the opening frame came with just under three minutes to play. From the slot, seventh-grader Amelia Paes rang the right post.

Freshman Amelia Long’s first goal and point of the season extended the Belmont lead to 2-0 with 15 seconds to play in the first period. She ripped a shot from the point, which made its way through traffic and beat Sacco five-hole.

“Couldn’t think of a better time,” Kelleher said. “Everyone on the team went over and congratulated her.”

The second period began much like the first ended — with Belmont pressing hard. The Marauders dominated the first half of the frame with their quick passes and team speed.

Arlington Catholic settled into its game after sophomore Elsie Lakin-Schultz was assessed a body-checking minor at 8:47. The Cougars possessed the puck in their offensive zone, peppering junior netminder Jil Costa with shots — but she stood tall between the pipes. Costa recorded her ninth shutout of the season in the victory.

Belmont continued to lock down defensively in the third period as the Cougars pushed to get on the board.

“They’ve grown up a lot,” Kelleher said. “They give us all confidence.”

Now only four wins stand in between Belmont and a first state title. Up next: the winner of Reading versus Pope Francis.

“We’ll reset, we’ll enjoy it today, and we’ll be back at the rink tomorrow,” Kelleher said.

Both hockey teams at Belmont High School have earned top 10 seeds in their respective MIAA Division 1 tournaments.

The boys finished with a record of 15-6-1 and are seeded sixth in the state tournament. The girls finished 15-1-4 and are seeded eighth. Both teams typically are competitive at the state level, but only the boys team has a state title to show for it — one in 2019-20.

The tournament kicks off for the girls team on Tuesday evening, squaring off against Arlington Catholic at 5:30 p.m. The boys, meanwhile, face Bishop Feehan at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, both at Ryan Arena in Watertown.

Both teams are the talk of the town, according to Dan Smith, the co-owner of Champions Sporting Goods on Leonard Street. He said everyone is aware of both the boys and girls teams’ success.

“It’s just on people’s minds, like, ‘Wow, the hockey teams are doing really well this year,’” Smith said.

Brendan Kelleher, head coach of the Belmont girls team, said he can’t be out and about in town without his team making its way into conversation.

For Kelleher, talking about his team is his favorite thing to do. Even his players know it.

“Nothing’s more rewarding to me than when I walk down the street and somebody goes, ‘Hey coach,’ and they stop and want to talk about my players,” he said.

One of those players is Smith’s daughter Mia, a freshman at Belmont High. When customers come into Champions, they make sure to ask Smith about it.

“Someone will come in and say, ‘Hey, our girls team is still undefeated, that’s awesome, and Mia’s on that team, right?’” Smith said. “It’s a fun conversation to have.”

Mike Carceo, the president of the Belmont Youth Hockey Association, said nearly all of the players on the high school teams played in the youth program.

“When we see the high school doing as well as they are this year, both the boys and the girls, it’s a good reflection of the work that our group and all the coaches are doing at the youth level,” Carceo said.

Carceo himself is an example of that pipeline. He grew up playing hockey in Belmont and graduated from Belmont High in 1999. He now lives in town with his family and has been on the association board for seven years.

The same can be said for Kelleher, whose family is entrenched in the Belmont hockey community. Kelleher’s father, Dan, coached at the youth program for over 40 years. Kelleher and his four brothers grew up playing through the youth program, and three of them, including Kelleher himself, graduated from Belmont High.

Now, Kelleher and his family live in Belmont. His daughter played through the program and the high school up until graduating. His son, Nolan, is currently on the boys team.

“It’s kind of a nice full circle moment for me,” Kelleher said.

Even with all the buzz and talk around time, the high school teams don’t even have a home rink — a new municipal rink on Concord Avenue is under construction. But that hasn’t affected attendance or the atmosphere. Ryan Arena hosted Belmont’s “home” games this season.

“A lot of those games have been filled,” Smith said. “Really exciting to watch and really loud.”

The Belmont High social media channels stream the games on YouTube, said Smith, so people who are unable to attend in person are able to watch.

“My mom can watch her granddaughter play,” Smith said. “It’s really cool that Belmont media does that.”

Smith and his wife, Jessica, who is the field hockey coach at the high school, have been involved in Belmont sports before they even lived in town.

Like Kelleher, it’s a full circle moment for Smith.

“There’s a lot of pride, there’s a lot of feeling of community that we have, and it’s fun to be able to share that with people,” Smith said.

Eli Cloutier is a journalism student at Boston University. This story is part of a partnership between the Belmont Voice and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

In one of his first acts in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the Paris Accord, a global agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to mitigate the impact of climate change.

More recently, the administration placed a freeze on wind project approvals.

At the local level, however, efforts to meet climate goals continue forward.

In 2023, 68% of Belmont Light’s power supply came from Renewable Energy Certificates, which are proof that a certain amount of electricity came from a renewable source. About 26% of them were Class I, which are generated from high-value renewable sources such as solar and wind, putting Belmont Light above the state-required threshold of 22%, said Dwayne Breger, director of the Clean Energy Extension at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. This year the requirement is 27%.

In addition to the Renewable Energy Certificates, 21% of Belmont Light’s 2023 power supply came from hydropower, 9% from wind, and 4% from solar.

Breger said it’s important for utilities to obtain as much energy as they can from renewable sources. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which accelerates climate change and causes long-lasting damage to the planet.

“We’ve got a climate emergency,” he said. “We have an existential threat.”

Despite the challenges posed by the new presidential administration — which has been hostile to renewable energy — Belmont Light General Manager Craig Spinale and Belmont Light Board Member David Beavers aren’t worried about the future of Belmont Light.

Belmont Light, the nonprofit utility that provides electricity to the town’s residents and businesses, is twice as reliable as big, investor-owned utilities, yet charges customers far lower rates.

How does it do it?

Unlike big for-profit utilities like Eversource and National Grid that need to return profits to shareholders, municipal electric companies are typically nonprofit entities governed by the communities they serve. Founded in 1898, Belmont Light is one of Massachusetts’ 41 municipal light plants and now serves a population north of 26,000.

The typical Belmont Light customer experiences 0.53 outages a year lasting an average of 56 minutes. The average investor-owned utilities customer faces almost double the outages (1.02 per year) and more than triple the outage times (174 minutes), according to the American Public Power Association.

“Why exist as a light department or a utility if you can’t keep the lights on?,” said Spinale.

With dedicated line crews working strictly for Belmont customers, it can test underground lines and repair overhead lines faster, Spinale said.

Spinale worked for National Grid for 15 years in engineering operations before joining Belmont Light in 2012 as the director of operations. In 2020, Spinale became Belmont Light’s general manager.

Spinale has lived in Belmont for around 13 years, and he says he’s never lost power for more than 24 hours — even that’s “a stretch.” In his time at National Grid, Spinale covered areas such as the North Shore and the Merrimack Valley in Massachusetts and the central western area of New Hampshire.

But it’s not only reliability that distinguishes municipal light plants from the for-profit companies — it’s also the prices. On average, municipal light plants rates are 42 percent lower than traditional investor-owned utilities such as Eversource, National Grid, and Unitil, according to data provided by Belmont Light.

In 2023, Belmont Light customers’ average monthly bill was $127.55. By comparison, National Grid’s was $190, Eversource’s was $188 in eastern Massachusetts and $175 in western Massachusetts, and Unitil’s was $216, according to the Massachusetts Alliance for Municipal Electric Choice.

Municipal light plants enter into contracts while investor-owned utilities are allowed to change their rates at six-month intervals. That can make a big difference in the rates.

Belmont Light has contracts of up to 25 years, which helps avoid seasonal price swings. It tries to keep rates stable for customers, which is why it tends to use longer contracts, Spinale said.

Electricity prices rose significantly after the invasion of Ukraine, but Belmont residents were protected because of the longer contracts, said Beavers.

“We are diversified. A lot of these are flat rates — they don’t go up,” Beavers said. “We were padded because we had these fixed-rate contracts.”

Customers of investor-utilities, on the other hand, can experience more price fluctuations.

“They’re beholden to the market at any given time,” Spinale added.

Not only do municipal light plants like Belmont Light have significantly lower rates than traditional investor-owned utilities, but its energy supply comes entirely from renewable sources, according to its website.

The utility company remains ever active in the community, even in ways one might not expect a municipal light plant to be. It helps move wrestling mats at Belmont High School and installs the town’s Christmas lights.

“The fact that we’re able to help the community more than what an [investor-owned utility] does,” Spinale said. “That’s the biggest win with a [municipal light plant].”

Eli Cloutier is a journalism student at Boston University. This story is part of a partnership between The Belmont Voice and the Boston University Department of Journalism.