BELLINGHAM, Mass. – An 81-year-old former hockey coach and the son of a late skate sharpener has been inducted into the Bellingham High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Roger Guillemette of North Smithfield was the hockey program’s first coach, hired in 1978 after an impressive high school and college athletic career of his own.
The son of the late Roger J. Guillemette, the former coach and player was raised in Woonsocket, and attended Mount St. Charles Academy before transferring to LaSalle in his sophomore year. The elder Guillemette owned a successful skate sharpening business in North Smithfield, also building sharpening machines, used by everyone from local players to teams in the NHL.
The son would lead LaSalle in scoring for three seasons that saw two league titles. He was named MVP of the high school program in 1961, when the team captured the New England championship.
Guillemette went on to serve as team captain for Norwich University, where he was also that school’s top scorer and MVP, earning two ECAC crowns and All-East honors.
After college, Guillemette first took a job as head coach at Spaulding High of Barre, Vt., leading the team to an unbeaten league record in his first and only year there. He then served as an assistant coach at LaSalle, and then head coach at Hendricken in Warwick, leading that team to two league crowns.
In Bellingham, Guillemette would bring a brand new team to 45 victories over four years, leading the young program to a quarterfinal playoff at Boston Garden in just its second year.
Guillemette also served as a teacher, guidance counselor and special-ed coordinator in a 30-year career for the Bellingham School District.
He was inducted into Norwich University’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1983. His sons would later play hockey for North Smithfield.
Guillemette was inducted into the Bellingham High School Athletic Hall of Fame at the school’s fifth annual ceremony at Coachman’s Lodge last month, according to a recent article in the Bellingham Bulletin, along with two contributors to the program, John Simpson and the late Harold Maines; five student-athletes: Michael Trudeau, Greg Smith, Lisa Motroni, Lisa Payne, and Kevin Maines; and one team, the 1998 football team.
