FORT McMURRAY, AB (September 29, 2014) – The Fort McMurray Oil Barons are delighted by the news that the team’s associate governor, and longtime Fort McMurray hockey contributor, Andrew Boutilier, has been appointed as Director of Hockey Operations for Team Canada West at the annual World Junior A Challenge.
The Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) and Hockey Canada made the joint announcement on Friday afternoon.
The World Junior A Challenge is an annual Hockey Canada event at which under-20 all-star teams from the Junior A level in Western Canada, Eastern Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, Russia, and the United States compete in a two-group round robin and championship stages.
The 2014 event will be held in Kindersley, Saskatchewan from December 14th to the 20th.
Boutilier is the first McMurrayite to be named as director of a World Junior A Challenge team. He was a key member of the team that organized Fort McMurray’s iconic hosting of the 2000 RBC Cup, served as the team’s assistant coach from 2003 until 2006, and was team president from 2008 until 2011.
Andrew also co-chaired the Northern Classic outdoor hockey game at Macdonald Island Park, which set an AJHL attendance record. He was a member of the Hockey Canada Foundation Celebrity Classic Gala steering committee in 2013, and helped to bring Hockey Canada’s World Junior Red and White Game to the Casman Centre in the summer of 2011.
As the team's executive director, he was also key to the Barons’ becoming the first Hockey Canada representative at the now-annual Junior Club World Cup in Omsk, Russia, in 2011.
The Barons would like to congratulate Andrew on this spectacular announcement, which is a fantastic development both for this organization and for Fort McMurray’s hockey community.
(photo credit: Greg Downs, QMI Agency)
