Two Orange County high school hockey teams will compete in the newly formed Western Prep Hockey League, Commissioner Matt Blanchart announced Thursday.
Santa Margarita, which won last year’s USA Hockey Tier II national championship, and JSerra are among five teams in the league, which also includes Fountain Valley of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Bellarmine Prep of San Jose; and Brophy Prep of Phoenix.
“Our goal has always been to raise the bar as far as the level of play of high school hockey in Southern California,” said Blanchart. “With this league, we feel we’re going in the right direction.”
Blanchart, who also serves as commissioner of the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League, said the league format mirrors that of the Midwest Prep League, which was founded in 2000 and features 10 teams from Indiana, Illinois, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
“We’ve actually had discussions with members of the Midwest League about playing each other,” Blanchart said.
Blanchart said the Western Prep league will also hold two showcase weekends (Dec. 5-7 and Jan. 9-11), where all five teams – plus a visiting sixth squad – will face one another. Among the schools that might attend the showcase events are Centennial of Hamilton, Ontario; Notre Dame Prep of Scottsdale, Ariz.; and North Broward Prep of Coconut Creek, Fla., Blanchard said.
The Western Prep season begins Sept. 6 and concludes Feb. 27-28 with a four-team playoff at the World Arena in Colorado Springs.
Blanchart said the Western Prep Hockey League will replace the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League’s Division 1A and be labeled Division 1.
Division 2 will feature nine “pure” teams, and Division 3 will include 11-12 “district” teams. Pure teams feature players from one school, while district teams include players from more than one school, such as the Capistrano Coyotes, who won last year’s Division 2A title.
Santa Margarita coach Craig Johnson said the announcement “sounds great” but he wanted to learn more about the new league before commenting further.
Contact the writer: 949-454-7309 or magarcia@ocregister.com
