It is the first good news the hockey community in the South has received since Southern made the extraordinary decision to exit the NHL in mid-June.
Booth has consistently refused to explain why the teams were pulled out and would not budge from that stance yesterday.
''We're back in, aren't we - so that is the main thing,'' he said.
Booth's confidence, though, is out of sync with a Hockey New Zealand press release which was much less emphatic.
''Hockey New Zealand and Southern both have every intention of Southern being back in the Ford NHL in 2017,'' chief executive Ian Francis said.
''Southern are a crucial region for hockey in New Zealand, both at community and high performance level, and we need a strong Southern region and avenue for their players to participate.
''Hockey New Zealand will be meeting with all regional chief executive officers over the coming weeks to review the overall structure of the NHL and other tournaments and are looking forward to working with the Southern board on combined actions that we believe will have positive outcomes going forward.''
While that sounds very promising, Booth was more bullish about Southern's return. He was less forthcoming when asked why Southern teams were pulled out in the first place.
''We're moving forward. We've got what we wanted so we are moving forward.
''The issues have been dealt with behind closed doors. It is all sorted. The NHL will be on next year and the Southern teams will be in it.''
The Otago Daily Times understands the issues were mainly financial but a lack of coaching resources also proved difficult to overcome.
Booth acknowledged finding a coach for the Southern women's team had been a challenge but help has been promised by Hockey New Zealand.
Southern hopes to appoint a high performance coach who would be responsible for upskilling the region's coaches and also be available to coach the Southern women's team.
''Hopefully, we can get a coach put in place for the women. That has been a major concern for us over the last few years.
''If we can get someone in there of the likes of Dave [Ross, Southern men's coach], who has been successful in the men's programme, then we'll be right.''
Booth, who described Southern's finances as ''good'', said there was a lack of quality coaches throughout the country, so the problem was not confined to Southland and Otago.
