After a successful 2024-25 season, the St. John Bosco Prep high school program is aiming to make its second season of 2025-26 bigger and better than what the inaugural team created.

And with last year’s team making it to the semifinals of the USA Hockey Youth Nationals, the sky is the limit.

Jack Baker, Bosco Prep’s manager of hockey operations, said the biggest component of the program is providing opportunities to high-end, talented players.

“We finished third at nationals behind Fairmont Prep and Shattuck-St. Mary’s, so as a team, we saw some success,” Baker said. “For our players, we provided many of them the opportunities to get in front of junior teams and coaches and several of them will be moving on to those programs. During the year, we sent several players to go spend a week with USHL and NAHL teams, practicing with them, working out with them, seeing some games and giving them the full exposure of what the ‘next level’ is all about. Lucas Jensen was drafted to Sioux City of the USHL and we have more players who anticipate signing or getting drafted by teams in the NAHL like the Colorado Grit, a team that we formed a great relationship with this year.

“By making these connections for the kids, we put them in a spot to seize an opportunity, and they did. Because we’re only entering our second season, we still have not been able to see the long-term results of players going onto college and junior hockey, but I have no doubt that we’ll start seeing our players end up on junior and college rosters in the near future. Schools like Fairmont Prep are also sending players onto the WHL, BCHL and college, so we’re proving that California prep teams can move kids into the leagues they want to be in.”

The founders of the Bosco Prep program, formerly known as the Frontier Selects, are Jason Stewart and Justin Reynolds, both native Canadians. Stewart started the very successful Northern Alberta Xtreme program in 2013 and wanted to bring a similar model here to California, which didn’t have many comprehensive “prep” programs.

“That’s essentially a model of school, hockey, off-ice, all combined together,” explained Baker. “Both Jason and Justin are still our directors, running operations from up in Canada. I’m here in Los Angeles, so I handle any and everything here. I played prep school hockey in Boston (Thayer Academy) and played four years at Boston University, followed by a few years in the AHL and ECHL, so I’ve gone through ‘the path’ and have a good idea of what it’s supposed to look like.

“One thing we’re focused on is the talent out here in California, so in order for this to be really successful and sustainable, we need to bring in that talent to our program. Having local players means other local players take notice and we become more exposed to that local talent market. We’re also a program that wants to bring kids in and develop them over multiple years, so there’s no worries about having to try out every year. This is obviously different than traditional California models and it’s that difference that many people are seeking. Actual development year after year is what will hopefully make us more enticing.”

Bosco Prep currently plays in the ADHSHL (Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League), and competes as a partner program in Canada’s top academy league, the CSSHL (Canadian Sports School Hockey League), which sees the highest number of CHL-drafted kids in Western Canada than any other league. New for the 2025-26 season, Bosco Prep will also be exploring the newly developed Elite Prospects Academy Series which features some of the best prep programs from across both Canada and the United States.

“We run into struggles out here, though, as most of the teams in our league don’t follow a similar prep-model, where our players only play for us,” Baker said. “Many other teams have their players still playing AAA hockey as well, which we believe impacts their ability to create a truly comprehensive development model for young players, and also causes some scheduling issues. Our dream would be to have a West Coast or California prep league where every team has fully committed players who only play for their high school team like Fairmont. That’s a model that’s followed in many other states like Massachusetts and Minnesota and seems to work really well. For many reasons, that model has not been fully embraced out here. Schools like us and Fairmont Prep are leading the way out here with Fairmont having blazed the trail for many years. We would love to have more full-prep programs in California and we believe it would provide a strong alternative to the norm and prevent more local players from leaving the state in pursuit of this model.”

Baker added that having a strong program on the West Coast like Bosco Prep can end the stigma of having to leave the state for prep hockey.

“Too often, people think if an East Coast team is recruiting them that it automatically means it’s a great program and they’re going to go to NCAA D-I or Major Junior guaranteed — that’s very far from the truth,” said Baker. “There are tons of programs on the East Coast and not all of them are run well. Many of them don’t focus on development and many do not move the kids onto that ‘next level.’ We’re trying to do something out here and we want people to understand that our program is truly focused on the holistic development of players and helping them to pursue their dreams on the ice and in the classroom. With school, on-ice, off-ice, community involvement, and everything that comes with that, it takes a lot to run these programs. Our goal is to develop kids and put them in the best position to get to that next higher level of hockey. It’s not about championships and being able to hang banners and all that. If you’re running the program the right way, those accolades will come, but if you’re churning out fully developed hockey players and, more importantly, fully developed young men, then that’s the accomplishment. Junior and college programs want kids that are ready to go and we feel that we’re providing that for our players.”

Moving forward, Baker noted that “our vision for the program is to have this be a premiere destination for prep hockey, not just on the West Coast, but across the whole country.”

“There are 30-plus million people in California and it doesn’t make any sense that California kids have to go East to get high-level hockey — and this is coming from an East Coast guy,” Baker said. “The reality is they don’t have to leave, they can get high-level hockey, high-level development and high-level coaching out here in California. Kevin Bieksa started the Fairmont program and there are many other ex-college and pro guys coaching out here, so I think everyone can feel confident they’re getting top-notch coaching out here, no different than the East Coast or Midwest.

“The point is that if we can harness all the talent on the West Coast and mix in some international talent as well, then there’s no reason that we can’t be a highly desirable place to play and develop. It’s already been proven. We just need more players to trust in this model and realize the actual benefits to this model as opposed to the rat race of following the traditional norm, which can be very stressful for the kids and parents.”

For more information, visit www.boscoprep.com.

Photos/Bosco Prep Hockey

— Matt Mackinder

(May 18, 2025)