Blades to face Hitmen in first round of WHL playoffs
Mar 24, 2025
The Saskatoon Blades finished sixth in the Eastern Conference with 82 points
April Fools’ Day is right around the corner, but don’t be fooled by the look of the ice on ponds, lakes and rivers in Saskatchewan right now.
That’s the message from emergency responders after a vehicle took an icy plunge early Monday while attempting to cross the partially frozen South Saskatchewan River.
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Fire departments from Warman and Aberdeen received a call shortly after 6 a.m. for the incident that happened at the Clarkboro Ferry crossing, 11 kilometres east of Warman.
“We found a car submerged in the water with a gentlemen on the shore. He was a little bit wet, but luckily he came out on his own,” said Aberdeen and District Fire Department Chief Adrien Hamoline.
“He stayed in his car until it hit the bottom. He managed to crawl out, get on top of his car and then from his car to the ice.”
Hamoline estimates the depth of the water where the vehicle sank is around three to four feet.
The Clarkboro crossing is one of the busiest ferries in the province during the summer, but in the winter months it becomes an unofficial ice road for area residents.
Hamoline admits he’s used the crossing himself during winter, but stresses nobody should be crossing on it anymore at this time of year.
“It’s always cross at your own risk,” said Hamoline.
“There are always little pockets of open water, but … (you get) under currents washing out the bottom of the ice. It may look fine on top, but its very thin underneath.”
In addition to signs, markers and caution tape have been erected to alert drivers to stay off the ice.
Spring brings highway weight restrictions
Last week the province, introduced weight restrictions on secondary highways in southwest Saskatchewan to protect key links of the road network in spring thaw.
“This annual measure keeps key transportation infrastructure ship shape for the long run so that our highways can move goods to support our export-based economy, which helps sustain our quality of life,” Highways Minister David Marit said in a news release.
The 2025 restrictions brought in on March 21 are expected to be phased in throughout the remainder of the province as it gets warmer.
The spring restrictions will remain in place for up to six weeks to protect the surface and ground beneath the roads, which become wet and soften with spring thaw. This reduces allowable vehicle weights on rural municipal roads and secondary-weight provincial highways by 10 to 15 per cent.
Current restrictions are available on the Highway Hotline website.
— with files from CKOM News
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