Boots is better in second year

By Eric Welsh - Chilliwack Progress - November 27, 2007

The reporter starts the interview with Kevin Boutilier with a light-hearted question.

“So Kevin,” he says. “We’re 28 games into the season and you’re not injured yet. That’s gotta be an improvement over last year eh?”

The question is meant to be a witty observation, but judging by the look on Boutilier’s face, it misses the mark badly. He doesn’t look very happy, and really, who can blame him?

The man they call Boots suffered through a horrendous campaign last year, bouncing in and out of the lineup with a seemingly endless list of maladies.

The worst injury was a concussion that he suffered during a Dec. 16 road game in Medicine Hat. Headaches and dizziness kept him out of the lineup for over a month.In the end, Boutilier played just 38 games for the expansion Bruins.

So if the 19 year old Calgary native wants to put the 2006-07 season behind him and concentrate on happier thoughts, he certainly should be able to.

“Last year was frustrating,” Boutilier conceded. “I’d come back from on injury and I’d tweak something else. I went into the off-season looking to improve my flexibility so I could avoid some of the problems I had.”

By his own admission, most of Boutilier’s problems were of his own doing. Hitting has always been a big part of his game, and the five-foot-11 blueliner went out of his way to hit everything in sight during his rookie season. He was writing cheques his body just didn’t want to cash.

“I learned I needed to be smarter,” Boutiler said. “I need to be hitting on my own terms instead of running around hitting everything. There’s a time to throw a big hit and a time to back off. I think I’ve gotten smarter, and it’s paying off this year.”

Boutilier was impressive from day one of training camp, and 28 games into the 2007-08 season, he is arguably Chilliwack’s second best defenceman behind team captain Nick Holden.

He still flashes a mean streak, and he still takes himself out of position at times, looking to make that bone-crunching hit.

But overall, he’s been a positionally sound defender for the much-improved Bruins. And best of all, he’s suited up for all but one of Chilliwack’s games this season.

Head coach Jim Hiller has gone out of his way to talk up his second year blueliner, and Boutilier can feel the extra confidence the coaches, and his teammates, now have in him.

“My confidence in myself and my abilities is pretty far up there right now,” he noted.

“Defensively I feel I’m doing that I need to do. And offensively I think I’m getting better. I’d like to be getting more points than I’m getting, but I just don’t think I’m getting the puck luck. That will come around if I keep working on it.”

Perhaps the strongest indication of Boutilier’s continuing evolution as a hockey player is the defensive partner Hiller has chosen to pair him with — Czech rookie David Hoda.Hoda speaks very little English and it’s inevitable that he will make rookie mistakes as he adapts to North American life and the Western Hockey League. That the bench boss trusts Boutilier to see the freshman import through his breaking-in period is the strongest compliment he could give.

“We’re still trying to get used to each other, and sometimes it’s frustrating,” Boutilier said. “He’s picking up things bit by bit and seems to be coming along. I’m glad I never had to deal with what he’s dealing with and I’m happy to be able to help him get through it.”