Angus Booth serving as a valuable defender for the Ontario Reign early in his pro career

The Ontario Reign coaching staff, led by Marco Sturm, decided to implement a new way of recognizing their top performers internally this season.

Using a voting system, they created an internal Player of the Month award, which is determined by choices from each member of the staff, including Sturm, his assistant coaches Chris Hajt and Brad Schuler, as well as goaltending development coach Adam Brown and Video Coach Ryan Dumoulin.

The inaugural winner for October wasn’t the club’s top scorer, best goaltender or anyone else who led a statistical category. It was rookie defenseman Angus Booth, who has impressed with his steady play on the blueline through the first 11 games of his professional career.

Booth has been in the lineup each night for Ontario, routinely paired alongside the team’s captain, Joe Hicketts. He didn’t record any goals or points in his first seven appearances but got on the scoresheet for the first time with two assists in an 8-4 win over Abbotsford last week. That prompted Sturm to boast about his play after that night’s game.

“He’s been great,” Sturm said of the left-shot defender. “Moverare was out the last 10 minutes of the game and [Booth] pretty much took over. Since day one of rookie camp, then into main camp and the beginning of the season, he’s been very impressive.”

Booth finished his junior career last season after 198 regular-season games in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) and a postseason run with Baie-Comeau Drakkar. He didn’t appear in an AHL game until Ontario’s opener last month, but after his year with Baie-Comeau ended in May, Booth joined the Reign’s playoff roster for what would be their final days of the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs.

With the group looking to prolong their season and respond after falling behind in their series with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, Booth had practice time on the road in Palm Desert and watched a game there before getting another practice in leading up to an eventual Game 3 loss at home inside Toyota Arena.

It was only a short few days for the 20-year-old, but it set the tone for his offseason, knowing that he’d be joining the Reign on a full-time basis this year.

“I’m lucky I watched those couple games at the end of the year,” Booth said earlier this week. “Those were important for me. Even though I didn’t play, I think just watching them, I was able to grow a lot because I saw what was expected of me. I was able to work on it in the summer to be able to be ready for camp and the beginning of the season.”

The work he did away from Southern California paid off. Sturm and Hajt, who oversees the team’s defense, were impressed when they saw him on the ice in September.

“Angus took the time and really focused on his summer, so he started off on the right foot when he came here and tested very well,” Hajt said. “You could really tell he took care of himself and was mentally ready to go in training camp. He’s had the right mindset coming in, and it’s amazing how you can play when you come in shape and mentally prepared.”

For many players, the jump from junior hockey into the professional ranks at the American Hockey League level is a big one. To try and acclimate quickly, Booth is using all the resources the Kings organization has offered him.

That includes Hajt, who spends hours pouring over video clips before presenting them to Booth, breaking down gameplay and different situations, both positive and negative.

“As a first-year pro coming in, it’s not always the easiest thing,” said Hajt. “Being the big dog in junior and then coming to pro, it’s an eye-opener. He came in with the right attitude, got off on the right foot, and has built on it from there. Every day he’s doing extra and getting better.”

There’s also the Kings’ development staff, which includes former NHL defensemen Matt Greene and Sean O’Donnell, who spend extra time on the ice with Booth and the rest of Ontario’s young blueliners before practice each week.

“We usually tend to go out about once a week, but what I get from them too is invaluable,” Booth said of his work with Greene and O’Donnell. “They both played a long, long time. They were really good players in the NHL. So whatever they say really goes a long way. It sometimes looks like we’re just going through motions and not doing much out there, but it’s just getting it in my brain to do things that help me get better.”

Booth has shown he can handle lots of what is being thrown at him in his first month with Ontario and as a result, he and his veteran partner Hicketts are being used for matchups against some of the best forwards on opposing teams.

Those decisions are made in part by Hajt, who trusts the duo in many different game situations.

“You can tell they’ve developed chemistry within the pair,” Hajt said. “They’re able to play a lot of nights against our opponents’ top lines. That’s a big ask for a young kid, and you’re going to have shifts where a veteran player gets the better of him, but he’s done a good job of learning from it, moving on and making his adjustments for that next time he’s out there against that player or that line.”

It’s been even easier than normal for the two to get to know each other because, in addition to playing together on the blue line, they’re also roommates, sharing an apartment along with forward Francesco Pinelli.

When asked about living with Hicketts, Booth immediately gave credit to his teammate’s cooking prowess saying, “he’s a great chef”.

“We try to not talk about hockey too much when we’re away from the rink because we’re always talking about hockey when we’re at the rink,” Booth continued. “He’s not telling me what to do, but he’s showing me the right way to do things, setting the right example. I also got my stall in the [locker] room next to him so it’s easy if I ever have any questions.”

Hajt said that while he doesn’t venture into the conversation much about players’ home lives away from hockey, it’s evident that the two have developed a tight bond. That there’s a trust they have among one another as partners and that if one is under pressure on the ice, the other is there to support. It’s the type of communication the coaching staff encourages all of their players to build with each other.

The next step for Booth is to continue to improve his consistency and learn from his mistakes. Both he and the coaching staff acknowledged that he wasn’t at his best during a pair of losses to Coachella Valley last week, but he bounced back with a better outing on Wednesday in a 4-1 win at home over Tucson.

“As a first-year guy, there’s going to be ups and downs, and he knows it,” Hajt said. “He’s a terrific kid who can self-evaluate his game. In general, if he has a bad shift or a bad game, he’s able to bounce back from it. You want to see that resilience and that mindset of, ‘Hey, you know what? It’s okay, I’m going to move past it, learn from it, and go forward.’ He’s a terrific human being, and he’s all ears listening to our staff.”

While it wasn’t expected for him to continue his award-winning level of play every night, the former fourth-round draft selection acknowledged that being singled out as the choice by the coaches had an impact on him.

“It means a lot to me,” said Booth. “I’m not always a player that gets recognition just because I keep my game simple and it’s not the flashy plays, but it’s good to hear from the coaching staff. That being said, I think I’ve had some tougher games since then, so I think it’s just getting back on track and helping the team, doing my job to win games here.”

His minutes and playing time is an indication that Booth is on the right track during his rookie year. The work ethic and mindset he’s had coming in and the trust the coaching staff has shown in him make him a promising prospect for the future on the left side of the Kings defense.