Photo: Belmont High Boys’ Hockey after winning the Ed Burns Coffee Pot trophy after winning the tournament beating Arlington.

Fans of Belmont High hockey will have a double dose of playoff action this week as the boys and girls squads will host “home” openers of the 2025 MIAA Division 1 state tournament, which will be played at the JAR—that’s the John A Ryan Arena—in Watertown.

The girls take the ice on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 5:45 p.m. against Arlington Catholic while the boys will face off against Bishop Feehan at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 27.

Both teams will have a second home contest if they come off the ice victorious this week. 

Marauder Girls’ 

The 8th-ranked Marauders (15-1-4) will be seeing some familiar faces in the two home games. They will start off against the 25th-ranked Arlington Catholic (7-11-2), which the girls’ met two weeks ago, winning 1-0. Belmont’s Sweet 16 opponent is likely to be Middlesex Liberty rival Reading Memorial (13-6-1), who will take on Pope Francis in the first round. The 9th-ranked Rockets lost to the Marauders 4-3 in January and tied up Belmont 3-3 in February.

Belmont is backstopped by junior goalie Jil Costa—who has given up one goal per game for the season—along with a solid defense made up of youngsters, including the first-line defense pairing of eighth grader Amelia Long with sophomore Elsie Lakin-Schultz.

The offense will depend on leading scorer junior Mackenzie Clarke and the team’s lone senior Sadie Taylor to spark the attack over the tournament, receiving help from first-years Alexcia Fici and Mia Smith and eighth-grade standout Mackenzie Tierney.

Belmont stumbled a bit leading up to the tournament, waiting late to tie a non-tournament Lexington in its penultimate game before losing its only contest of the season against Waltham, 3-2, in the season’s finale. Belmont does have some momentum behind them, capturing its second Middlesex League title in as many years.

For second-year Head Coach Brendan Kelleher, the season—which started on Dec. 2—has been a long one, but he sawthe team continue to battle the entire way. 

“These girls have answered the call every time in the last few games,” he said. Kelleher admitted losing an undefeated season in the final two minutes of the last game “stings a bit” but said as a team “we’ve never talked about wins and losses all season. We’re extremely proud of these girls, of what they’ve accomplished,” he said.

Kelleher said the postseason is “an exciting time for all these student-athletes, for the town and the high school and these families. Anything can happen. Now it’s a survive and advance situation.”

Belmont Boys’

The Boys undertook one of the toughest regular season schedules of any Bay State team, including encounters with five teams in the Boston Globe’s top 20, including Pope Francis (twice), Hingham, and Catholic Memorial, to finish with a 15-6-1 record and ranked 6th in Division 1.

Tuesday’s opponent is Bishop Feehan from Attleboro, who enters the rink with a 9-12-1 record and is ranked 27th. The Crimson and White’s likely next opponent will be Middlesex Liberty rival 11th-seed Winchester (12-10-0), which the boys beat twice in the regular season (4-1, 3-1). If the seeding holds up, Belmont will face third-rank Hingham in the Elite Eight, which they defeated in the semi-finals of the Ed Burns tournament, 2-1.

Feel good, said Belmont Head Coach Tim Foley. “And we have some work to do. We have some things to work on, but obviously we’re heading in the right direction.”

Belmont enters the playoffs with silverware in hand, having won the Burns tournament and the Cardinal Classic, where they defeated number 1-ranked Pope Francis, 2-0. With a first line of junior Leo Packard, sophomore phenom Liam Guilderson (21 goals, 43 points), and senior captain Adam Bauer, Belmont can score on nearly all defenses and goalies in the state. 

A wall of solid defenders, including sophomores John Connolly, Michael Rowan, and seniors PD Dimas and Tim Carere, has garnered Foley’s praise. 

“Our defensemen are just so fundamentally sound, good stick positions all the time. It’s something we work on a lot, and it’s something they really thrive on. They take pride in keeping pucks out of and on net, not scoring goals,” said Foley.

Sophomore goalie Ethan Bauer—Adam’s younger brother—has been standing on his head in the past month, giving up a single goal over three games in the Ed Burns tourney and shutting out the state’s number one and two teams. 

“Bauer is so solid, when we do make a mistake, we have that extra layer back there. That’s what you want, a hot goaltender going into the tournament,” said Foley.