Josh Brook threw on a Montreal Canadiens jersey for the first time on Wednesday night.

The Moose Jaw Warriors defenceman made his NHL preseason debut in Montreal's 5-2 loss to the Florida Panthers at the Bell Centre.

Brook saw 16:48 of ice time and finished with one shot-on-goal and two hits for the Canadiens.

Warriors forward Justin Almeida was a scratch for the Pittsburgh Penguins in their 3-2 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

In other NHL preseason action on Wednesday, former Warriors captain Brett Howden suited up for the New York Rangers for the first time.

He was a minus-two with 16:12 of ice time in a 6-4 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers at Madison Square Garden.

Moose Jaw's Chase Lacombe and the Humboldt Broncos earned their first win of the young Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League season.

The Broncos went into Wilcox on Wednesday night and skated past the Notre Dame Hounds, 2-0.

Lacombe is still looking for the first point of his SJHL career through three games.

The Broncos return to the ice on Saturday when they host the Battlefords Stars at the Elgar Petersen Arena.

In other SJHL action on Wednesday, Moose Jaw's Eric Soar and the Melville Millionaires lost 5-2 to the Red Wings in Weyburn.

Soar, who is serving as an assistant captain with the Millionaires this season, was held off the scoresheet in the loss. He has one assist through three games.

The Millionaires host Notre Dame on Friday.

Player development is taking on a bigger focus for the Moose Jaw Minor Hockey Association (MJMHA) heading into the 2018-19 season.

The local organization has announced an agreement with Western Prospects Hockey's Taras McEwen and Matt Scott to lead its 2018 development program.

"Western Prospects come with a good reputation, good experience, they bring a lot of knowledge and they've been doing development for Notre Dame in the province, so we're looking to draw on those experiences in our player development," said Patrick Boyle, who's in his first season as the president of Moose Jaw Minor Hockey.

McEwen and Scott are both certified Hockey Canada Skills Instructors, while McEwen is also the Manager of Scouting and Operations with the Kootenay Ice of the Western Hockey League. 

Western Prospects Hockey will be running six development sessions per team across the association throughout the season.

"They'll really be focusing on skating and skating development at the younger levels," said Boyle. "We're going to be looking at trying to improve our skating, our skill development, edge control, all those things for the younger divisions and then as we go up into the older divisions, that will have a benefit for years down the road."

The sessions will part of regular practice times for teams and the focus will be to have the sessions in the younger divisions -- novice and atom -- to really emphasize skating development through the first few months of the season.

The tier programs will also be going through the development sessions with the focus changing as they get into the older divisions.

"We're going to try to get a lot of that development in early, as soon as we hit the ice in October," said Boyle.

"(Early in the season) is a key time for the younger players in development and we really want to invest as much as we can into that skill development process. The older divisions will work on where they want to see skill versus skating and then the tier program will have some added sessions."

MJMHA will be spending about $35,000 on skill development this season and Boyle is hoping that this is just a start. He wants to see the association continue to turn its focus more towards skill development than just wins and losses.

"To me, this is just the beginning," said Boyle. "We'll be looking at increasing our fees next year, potentially, to invest even more in development, we want to increase what we're doing moving forward and really give an experience to a lot of the kids in the association and keep them moving forward."

The new season is just around the corner for the MJMHA with tier tryouts continuing through the end of the month and then the house leagues will start selecting their teams.

He says he'll take the time to better himself and then apologized for his actions, saying the horrible decision tears him apart.

Adrian McLaren, of Moose Jaw, gave that statement in the Swift Current Court of Queen's Bench this week as he was sentenced for impaired operation of a motor vehicle causing death. McLaren was charged after a rollover on the TransCanada Highways near Morse in February of this year. Demi McKechnie of Moose Jaw was pronounced deceased at the scene while three others were ejected from the vehicle.

McLaren's blood-alcohol content was 222 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood, based off a sample taken at the hospital. He entered a guilty plea to the charges and addressed the court on Wednesday.

"I'm prepared today for whatever sentence I'm given, and will use it as an opportunity to better myself," he said as family and friends of McKechnie held pictures of their loved one.

McLaren was out on bail as he awaited the court case to proceed but allegedly had three breaches for alcohol consumption that he blames on his struggle with what happened.

On top of the jail sentence of two years and 74 days, McLaren received a three-year driving ban and a 10-year firearms prohibition.

Chronic wasting disease is spreading and the province is warning hunters to get their animals tested.

First found in 1996, CWD has now been found in almost half the province. It impacts deer, elk and moose leading to abnormal behaviour and death, although some animals that test positive for the disease can appear perfectly normal.

While there have been no human cases, officials say infected meat should not be consumed and are offering free testing to hunters.

The Moose Jaw High School Junior Girls Volleyball League opened its season on Wednesday night with games at three schools around the city.

At Peacock, the Green Toilers had a great start to the season as they went 4-0 during the three-team round robin against Central Butte and Central Red.

Peacock Green won 25-15 and 25-23 over Central Butte and then they beat Central Gold, 25-9 and 25-14.

In the other game, Central Butte edged Central Gold in two sets (25-8 and 25-6).

* * *

Over at Central for their three-team round robin, the Red Cyclones went 4-1 in their two games against Avonlea and Peacock Orange. 

Central topped Avonlea in three sets (23-25, 25-15, 15-4) and knocked off Peacock Orange in two sets (25-9, 25-21).

Avonlea prevailed over Peacock in two sets (25-15, 29-27).

* * * 

There was a four-team round robin at Vanier with Rouleau and Riverview/Mortlach leading the pack with a 4-2 record.

Rouleau won both sets over Vanier (25-14, 25-21) and then the Rebels split their two sets against Briercrest Christ Academy (25-11, 20-25) and Riverview/Mortlach (25-13, 18-25).

The Royals knocked off B.C.A. in both sets, winning 25-23 and 25-14, while they split against the Spirits, winning 25-23 and falling 25-22.

B.C.A. and Vanier split their two sets with Vanier taking the first set, 25-21, and the Cougars winning 25-20.

* * *

The Central Cyclones in action against the Swift Current Colts in the Moose Jaw High School Boys Soccer League on Wednesday. (Photo: Eric James / SwiftCurrentOnline.com)

The Central Cyclones hit the road in the Moose Jaw High School Boys Soccer League on Wednesday, but they came out on the losing end, 3-1, against the Swift Current Colts.

The loss drops Central's record to 1-2 this season, while Swift Current improves to 3-0.

The next high school soccer action will have the Central girls in Swift Current and the Vanier girls heading to Weyburn on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

After some turmoil, Sidewalk Days found stability in a brand new, dedicated group of volunteers and now that group wants to find some new recruits to take them to the next level. Jacki L'Heureux-Mason and Susan Perron have announced they will organize one more festival and then hand over the positions of chair and co-chair to somebody new.

They're excited to put out the call for volunteers to lead the committee with L'Heureux-Mason explaining that it's the right time to step down from her role.

"You run the risk of it becoming stagnant and the only thing that kept us going was that we felt we had a little bit more to offer with getting it to where we wanted it to go, explained L'Heureux-Mason. "Both Sue and I are ready for new challenges and feel very strongly that it's just at that critical time in the next year or two that it could use a little freshening up to keep it vibrant and to carry on the legacy that we think we've built."

You may recall the event was originally cancelled in 2010 when the Business Improvement District claimed a budget decision by City Hall removed funding for the event, essentially cancelling the festival. Councillors disagreed saying the event is not a creation of City Hall and the committee had plenty of funds in the bank to host the event, with proper planning. BID would abandon the project and then disband.

Despite the controversy, the much-loved summer event was saved and has become a must-attend festival in the heart of downtown Moose Jaw. The team wants to keep it that way and have started their succession planning. If you're interested in applying, you can submit your resume to info@sidewalkdays.ca.

The Ministry of Environment wants hunters to help with the studies that will help to prevent the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).

CWD is a fatal, infectious disease that affects members of the deer family, including deer, elk, moose, and caribou.

“It’s unusual in that the disease is caused by an infectious protein, so it’s not caused by a bacteria or virus, and it’s actually a protein that’s quite persistent in the environment,” said Iga Stasiak, Provincial Wildlife Health Specialist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment.

“The disease takes a long time to develop, so animals could become infected and have the infection for a year or even two years before they start to show symptoms and that makes it really challenging to diagnose,” she said.

Stasiak noted that, if the disease goes unchecked, it could mean devastation for deer family populations.

“We know from studies in areas where the disease has been established for a very long time, in the United States, in Wyoming and Colorado, that when it becomes established in the population, after a long time it starts to really negatively impact these populations. This will result in decreased survival, and these populations won’t thrive in the long term,” she explained.

“So we’re going to start seeing changes, we’re going to start seeing less older age classes, so fewer older bucks, and overall the population is going to decline,” she added.

There is even a chance the disease could affect humans, given that the disease is similar to Mad Cow Disease.

“There are no known reported cases in humans, but as a precautionary approach, we recommend that hunters do get their animals tested, and the World Health Organization and Health Canada does recommend that hunters avoid eating meat from animals that are infected,” she said.

Stasiak recommends that hunters avoid the use of mineral licks, which congregate the animals, thereby increasing the spread of the infection. Also, avoid transporting carcasses over long distances, and always pack the carcasses sealed in heavy plastic.

The most important thing hunters can do, however, is to submit the animal heads to be tested.

“The Ministry is asking hunters to drop off heads, from animals that they’ve harvested, for CWD testing,” said Stasiak. “This is really important to help guide our management, so hunters are encouraged to have their animals tested and they can drop off their heads at any of our Ministry of Environment field offices.”

She added participation is fair, with 800 animal heads submitted last year. More is needed, however, as the heads are valuable for research. Thousands of heads every year should be submitted to ensure the most comprehensive study.

More information on CWD can be found HERE.

Statistics from the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), through a survey conducted by Maru Voice Canada, found that 53% of 1,510 Canadians aged 18 and up believe that anxiety and depression is an epidemic in Canada.

Among 18 to 34 years olds, that number jumps up to 59%. In comparison, 56% of those surveyed believe addiction to be an epidemic, 50% believe cancer and other physical illnesses to be an epidemic, heart disease and stroke 34%, 31% say diabetes is, and 13% say that HIV/AIDS is also an epidemic.

These numbers can leave someone wondering why anxiety and depression top this list, especially compared to these other topics.

"Sometimes people ask me why is [mental health] becoming so much more visible than what we ever experience before and there's a couple of reasons why that is," Donna Bowyer, Director of the CMHA Moose Jaw Branch, explained. "One is that we're talking more about mental health and maybe some people are feeling a little safer in disclosing that they are struggling."

Even though she said more people are talking about it, Bowyer said there's a flip side to it, and that we have become more of an isolated society and spend more time by ourselves. That we don't interact with our neighbors and don't have the same sort of communities that we used to have.

To offset this lack of connection, some people are now searching for professional help, but long wait times due to underfunding of community-based mental health services and the high prices of psychiatrists aren't getting people the help they need when they need it.

Which is why along with this survey, a national CMHA policy paper was also released, called Mental Health in the Balance: Ending the Health Care Disparity in Canada. With the survey numbers in the paper, they are also calling for new legislation to "address unmet mental health needs and bring mental health care into balance with physical health care."

85% of Canadians say mental health is the most underfunded component in the health care system, and 86% say the government should fund mental health at the same level as physical health.

The Mental Health Commision of Canada recommends 9% of the health budget be put towards mental health, but currently Canada only averages 7%, and Saskatchewan sits below at 5%.

In a news release from the CMHA, it states mental health accounts for 23% of the total disease burden, and by 2020, depression will be the leading cause of disease in Canada.

"There's been a lot of studies in that done that, you know, if we can capture these issues up front, if we can get the services we need when the services arrive, it's going to reduce the cost on the system," Bowyer said. "Every dollar spent on public funding of mental health services would save two dollars in the health care system."

Bowyer goes on to say that many mental health services that people assume to be in place aren't anymore. Some people think that kids can get counselling through their school system, but that has changed in the past two years due to funding cuts. Or the new hospital being built in Saskatoon having no unit for children dealing with mental health.

Anyone who needs mental health help can utilize the CMHA peer support group here in Moose Jaw, which gives people more face-to-face help and allows them to spend more time with others, showing compassion and caring about how people are doing.

If you want to learn more about the CMHA's findings and their call to legislation, you can find their full report here, or the summary here.

Need some reading material to curl up by the fire with this winter? The Moose Jaw Humane Society is holding their bi-annual book sale, which is perfect for book enthusiasts to find a new story to read.

Dana Haukaas is the Acting Executive Director of the Humane Society. She detailed what the money is for.

"Our book sale raises funds for just day-to-day operations at the shelter. Our biggest expense by far at the shelter is our vet expense every month, whether that be spaying or neutering animals to increase their opportunity to find a forever home, or if it is including medical care for specific pets".

She gave the details on when and where you can find the sale.

"Our book store is located up at the Moose Jaw Exhibition Company. We are in the building just north of the Golden Nugget Centre and our hours of operation are Tuesday to Saturday from 11 am - 5 pm. The sale runs from September 8 all the way to October 6 at 5 pm."

And if you've checked out the sale already, you may want to check it out again. The store has an ever-changing inventory.

"We have wonderful people who donate the books to us, and we have books coming to the shelter and up to the book store every single day. So if you think you've seen everything we have to offer, you haven't, because we keep restocking those tables every day and there's always something new going out there."

Unveiling the ban last year, but giving industries a year to change, Canada's ban on artificial trans fats is now in effect.

The main target will be products that include partially hydrogenated oils, which is the main source of industrially made trans fats throughout Canada.

It's expected to lower the number of heart attacks throughout the country, as businesses rid their food of the additive which adds taste and texture to food, instead of using butter. The problem, however, comes from the levels of harmful cholesterol that comes with the fats.

Products that were manufactured before this week are still allowed to be sold while containing trans fats, but only for the next 2 years.

With a lot of turnover on their roster, the Moose Jaw Warriors will be looking for new faces to take the reigns this season.

Back are staples from last year's team like Justin Almeida, Ryan Peckford, Josh Brook and Jett Woo, but the Warriors will be leaning on new players to take the next step and help carry the load this season.

18-year-old forward Nick Bowman was acquired in the offseason from the Edmonton Oil Kings. He brings experience to Moose Jaw and will be looking to take advantage of his new opportunity.

"Since they had such a strong team last year, some of that forward scoring depth has been lost, so for an 18-year-old like myself, it's a good opportunity to step and fill that void," said Bowman.

Bowman brings a hard-working, two-way game, which is what the Warriors will be built around this season.

"I really like their style so far, it's a good fit for me," said Bowman. "We're encouraged to play fast, get on the opposition quickly and catch them off guard."

18-year-old defenceman Brendan Kwiatkowski played 22 games with the Warriors last season before being reassigned to the Alberta Junior Hockey League. Kwiatkowski said while he didn't get to play a ton, his game really developed from being in Moose Jaw.

"It was good, a lot of learning experiences during my time here, I'm just a lot more confident this year coming back and having the experience under my belt now," said Kwiatkowski.

"You learn how to compete every day and just try to take in some key things from the older guys."

The Warriors are loaded on the backend this season with Brook, Woo, Brandon Schuldhaus and Matthew Benson all returning as well as first-round pick Daemon Hunt stepping in.

Kwiatkowski feels he's done enough to earn a role on the team, "Hopefully, I can be in the lineup regularly this year and show what I've got," he said.

The Warriors will open the regular season with a home-and-home against the Brandon Wheat Kings this weekend.

Bowman said the team is ready to get the regular season underway and show what they're capable of, "Everyone here is excited to get it going on Friday," he said.

"We've been working on all the little areas of our game, making sure that we're ready to compete come Friday. We got a good look last weekend of what their team is going to look like and they've had a good look at what our team is going to look like, so hopefully, we can make some adjustments and capitalize on those."

The Warriors and Wheat Kings face-off on Friday in Brandon and on Saturday at Mosaic Place. 

There's plenty of optimism surrounding the Moose Jaw Generals as they prepare to open the 2018-19 season in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League.

After missing the playoffs for the first time in over a decade last season, the Generals return much of last year's roster, which is a year older, more experienced and ready to compete.

"We're having fun in the dressing room, so it's pretty good, it's a good feeling," said forward Brendan Kemp. "We've got a special bond, we were all together last year, so we know what everyone is like and we're a pretty tight-knit group."

The Generals posted a 4-1-0 record during the preseason and looked primed for a big season.

The Generals got stronger as last season wore on and they will be focused on building off everything that was put in place last season. Second-year defenceman Jeron Kletzel said the team is much more confident to open this season.

"We're really excited for this year, we've got a good group of guys and we can do some damage this year," he said. "We all know what we're getting into, we know our systems and we're all ready."

Kemp will lead a forward group that should be dynamic with leading scorers Casey McDonald, Jaxon Georget, and Jake Palmer also returning this season.

"We're a good offensive group, we've got lots of speed, so if we use that our advantage, we'll do good," said Kemp. "We've just got to work hard and play our game, we've just got to buy into the roles that we have and do our job."

Defensively, the Generals will lean on their experienced defencemen as well with Kletzel, Jonah Reiger, Carey Levesque and Walter Somers returning this season.

Goalies Jaxson Taupert and Reece Hodson both join the Generals this season.

"Things will come if we work hard and play our game," said Kletzel. "I can definitely step it up this year and be more of a leader this year."

The Generals open the season with a tough test as they play five straight road games, starting this weekend with trips to Prince Albert and Beardy's.

Kemp said they will learn a lot about the team in these first five games, "Road games are that much harder to win, so we've just got to come out hard, do the best we can in these first five games and then start rolling from there," he said.

The Generals face-off with the Mintos on Saturday afternoon in Prince Albert and then battle the Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon. Puck drops on both games at 1:30 p.m.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders had their four-game winning streak snapped after a tough night for the offence and defence against the Ottawa Redblacks last Saturday.

CFL Insider Matt Sheridan and host Marc Smith go over the loss and how the Riders can rebound from the game this weekend against Toronto.

They also discuss the Riders’ first match-up with Duron Carter coming up on Saturday and the continued struggles of the Montreal Alouettes.

Click here to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

CFL Picks - Week 15:
Matt Sheridan:
Winnipeg over Montreal
Edmonton over Ottawa
Saskatchewan over Toronto
Hamilton over B.C.

Season Record: 28-22

Marc Smith:
Winnipeg over Montreal
Ottawa over Edmonton
Saskatchewan over Toronto
Hamilton over B.C.

Season Record: 27-23

Justin Almeida started the week sharing a locker room with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but he's excited to be back in Moose Jaw.

The 19-year-old forward was reassigned by the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday, just in time to be in the lineup for the Warriors when they open the regular season on Friday night in Brandon.

"Knowing that the season starts (Friday), I wanted to be back for the season opener, it's always exciting to be back and playing a role that the team needs, so it's exciting," said Almeida, who will lead the Warriors' forward group this season.

Almeida was selected by the Penguins in the fifth round of June's NHL Draft. He said getting the opportunity to hit the ice with NHL stars like Crosby, Malkin and Phil Kessel in Pittsburgh was a great experience.

"It was surreal, the guys there are the best of the best, so just learning from those guys and just the pace, the complete, how hard those guys work and their composure with the puck was a big learning experience," said Almeida.

Every junior player returns from their first NHL camp with a new appreciation for what it takes to play at the pro level and Almeida is no different. He said the way that the players work every time on the ice is something that he'll try to bring back with him to Moose Jaw.

"There's time that they're joking around, but most of the time they're going full out, so to keep up with those guys definitely benefits my game," said Almeida.

"The biggest message was just to play confident, play to your strengths and show what you have, play with the puck and play with possession. It was definitely hard acclimatizing to that pace of speed and thinking, but throughout the days I felt I got better and better."

Almeida comes into this season expected to lead the Warriors' forward group as the lone returning player from the team's top-six last season.

The Kitimat, B.C. product broke out last season with 43 goals and 98 points in 72 games for the Warriors and he's excited about his role on the team this season.

"You always want to improve, but it starts with the team first, we have a new look, a lot of younger guys, a lot of guys playing bigger roles, so I'm taking on a leadership role and trying to get those guys up to speed and get everyone going so our team has success," said Almeida.

"Everyone wants personal success, but that comes with team success and when the team is doing good, every individual is doing good, so we start off with team success first, winning games and playing the right way and the rest will come after."

Almeida and the Warriors will travel to Brandon on Friday night to open their season against the Wheat Kings at Westoba Place. The Pre-Game Show will be on the air starting at 6:10 p.m. on Country 100.

The Warriors' season opener goes on Saturday night at Mosaic Place.

Saskatchewan residents are being warned about a new trick that thieves are using to get into your wallet. Regina Police say some sneaky thieves are disguising themselves as good Samaritans.

Investigators say there are new reports of a suspect telling their potential victim that they found some cash on the ground and ask if it's theirs. The victim, often elderly and by themselves, will open their wallet to check and when they do, the thief will use a light touch and distractions to take credit cards.

Another report uses a similar distraction saying there's money under the victim's vehicle and when they go to look, the thief takes their wallet or purse from their cart.

The sale of two gas plants in Saskatchewan has the opposition NDP raising red flags saying the people of the province were never consulted about the sale or even told before the province went ahead with the deal.

NDP officials say the plants in Kisbey and Coleville were told to a Calgary based company for $31 million but were owned by SaskEnergy so the information should have been public. They're comparing the sale to the privatization of the Crown Company.

Crown officials say the plan is to use the sale to pay for future infrastructure upgrades and projects. They are also defending the sale by saying that the plants operate out of their area of expertise, cleaning natural gas after it's been taken out of the ground.

The Peacock Toilers put together three solid sets to knock off the Central Cyclones in the Moose Jaw High School Senior Girls Volleyball League on Thursday night.

The win improved Peacock to 2-0 early in the season, while Central drops to 1-1.

"I'm super impressed by our team, we've done really good lately and we're just going to grow from here, it's awesome," said Peacock senior Jenna Helland after the win.

The Toilers started the night off with a strong 25-15 win in the first set, but they really found their groove in the second set, which they took 25-7 over the Cyclones. Central showed some good fight back in the third set, but Peacock came away with a 25-18 win to take the match.

Helland said the team has gelled quickly this season and it's paying off, "We have a really good group of girls this year, we all talk lots, we're all good friends and that definitely helps," she said.

On the Cyclones' side, they will head back to the drawing board after a rough outing, but head coach Joe Gunnis said he's confident that the team will find its way as the season progresses.

"We've just got to continue to work in the gym, once it clicks we’ll be a very fine volleyball team, we just need all the pieces to come together at one time and then we'll be in great shape," said Gunnis.

While the result wasn’t what they were looking for, Gunnis added that they can learn a lot from a loss like this one early in the season.

"Nobody goes out to lose obviously, but to have a game where we have to work through things when they're going well and when they aren't going well will pay off in the middle to end of the season, and that's what we're looking for, to get better every game, every point," he said.

The win will provide a nice boost of confidence for Peacock moving forward, but Helland said they won’t be getting ahead of themselves by any means.

"It's nice knowing that we have the strength to overcome these teams is really good," she said. "We need to focus on playing our game and make sure that we're still on top and doing our best."

In other senior girls action on Thursday, the Vanier Spirits traveled out to Caronport and knocked off the Briercrest Christian Academy Cougars in three straight sets (25-18, 25-21, 25-18).

The league returns to the court on Tuesday for a five-game slate.

The Central Cyclones and Vanier Spirits weren't able to find the back of the net during a pair of games on Thursday in the Moose Jaw High School Girls Soccer League.

Central fell 7-0 to the Ardens in Swift Current on Thursday.

The Ardens took a 2-0 lead heading into halftime and then scored five goals in the second half for the win.

Olivia Koebel had a hat trick to lead the way for Swift Current, while captain Allison Wall potted a pair of goals in the win. Calli Moreau-Simpson and Ilyssa Dyck also scored for the Ardens.

In Weyburn, the Spirits fell 4-0 to the Eagles on Thursday.

There's a busy Saturday ahead for the high school soccer league with the Peacock and Vanier boys and girls playing host the Swift Current boys and girls for four games at Smith Field. The Tornadoes will square with the Colts and Ardens at 10:30 a.m. and then the Spirits and Vikings hook up with Swift Current at 2:45 p.m.

This is the last day of summer and experts are suggesting we take advantage of the fact that there's no snow on the ground, yet, and prepare for the colder seasons ahead.

Depending on what forecast you believe, we could be in for a cold winter. Flurries are already expected for Saturday, the first official day of Autumn and Natalie Hasell with Environment Canada has some tips on getting through to spring comfortably.

"It would be a good time to start getting ready for the new season by checking that all of the shingles on your roof are okay, making sure that your emergency kit is good to go and that you have one in your car."

Now is also the best time to have your furnace checked as the recent cool weather has likely prompted many homeowners to start using their heating system at night.

Autumn officially arrives Saturday night at 8:54 Saskatchewan time.