Lawson (Boots) Boutilier is looking forward to his new role as director of player and coach development with the South Delta Minor Hockey Association.

"I think the coaches and kids are hungrier for more. They want to learn more. It's a big responsibility but I'm looking forward to it, looking forward to the challenge," he says.

Boutilier, 51, says he'll be assisting players and coaches from all of the association's age levels.

He's been a volunteer the past three years with the association as a coach, division manager and VP of initiation hockey, but Boutilier's new role will be a paid position.

Association president Phil Alalouf noted quite a few other organizations have also gone the route of having a paid position when it comes to player and coach development. Just through the tunnel, both Seafair and Richmond Minor fall into that recent trend.

Boutilier will work with a committee to implement and instruct sessions to help different age groups of players with certain skill sets, Alalouf said.

"We're excited to have Boots doing what he's doing. He's very good with the kids. I think the coaches he works with very much respect him. He's very knowledgeable and very approachable," he said.

Boutilier, who's originally from Halifax, finished his junior career with the Junior 'A' Halifax Lions of the Metro Valley Junior Hockey League.

He turned down a walk-on tryout with the New York Rangers, opportunities at Dalhousie and St. Mary's and a chance to referee in the American Hockey League in favour of joining the RCMP.

Boutilier, now a 30-year veteran with the Mounties, ended up being a player/coach on an RCMP hockey team.

In the mid-1980s he was transferred to Bowen Island and started the Bowen Island Softball Association. It was an experience where he learned a lot about dealing with people and with all ages, he said, something that will help with his new role.

"I think with this kind of a job you have to have strong interpersonal skills and communication and you have to like being around people."

He mentioned putting a focus on early skill development for initiation-level players, establishing skill sessions and programs for players on the verge of making rep teams and holding more goalie clinics as some of his objectives.

Boutilier described the initiation level as "the foundation" of a hockey program.

He's also worked with the Vancouver Giants and the Delta school district's hockey academy.

A Ladner resident, Boutilier has a son, Chase, playing with South Delta Minor.

The minor hockey association is made up of over 800 players, male and female, from six- to 19-years-old, the organization's website states.