Since coming to Moose Jaw as a 16-year-old, Warriors captain Brett Howden has been very involved in the community and there’s one organization in particular that holds a special place with the Tampa Bay Lightning prospect.

On Monday, Howden was joined by his teammates for a morning at Diversified Services Moose Jaw.

“Everybody had a blast today, it was fun to see all the guys there again, see everyone smiling and having a good time, so it’s very special for me to be a part of that program,” said Howden.

Howden has made regular appearances at Diversified Services over the past four seasons, becoming close with many of the workers over that time.

They honoured him last year by hanging his jersey, along with Brayden Point’s, in their gym area.

“I haven’t been there much this year because it was very busy at the start of the season,” he said. “I’m starting to go a lot more now and just to see all of them again, it’s so much fun, they’re all so happy to see me when I come back and it’s really fun for me to get to see them again.”

Diversified Services provides work for over 100 locals with mental disabilities and when visiting with them, Howden said he enjoys seeing what they do on a daily basis.

“Today, they have us a tour for the guys that hadn’t been there before and then we played floor hockey and mingled around,” Howden.

“They show so much support for us, you go in there and they have Warriors everything in there — jerseys, hats, there’s decals all over the walls — and they come to lots of our games, so it’s nice for us to give back, see what they do during their days and show support back that way too.”

The Warriors are coming off a stellar weekend that saw them pick-up back-to-back shutout wins over Lethbridge and Kootenay. It was also a special weekend for Howden, as with his three points on Saturday, he moved past his brother, Quinton, for ninth place on the Warriors’ all-time scoring list with 241 career points.

Howden said this weekend will serve as a big confidence booster for him and the team, “It was good for us in that Kootenay game to play a full 60 minutes, we didn’t let off the gas pedal at all, we had full control of that game, so it’s our main goal to do that every game,” he said.

There’s a big week ahead now for the Warriors as they prepare to play the rival Regina Pats three times in five days, starting on Wednesday in the Queen City.

“It’s a pretty crazy week, it’s going to be interesting and both cities have been counting down the days until these games, so it should be a pretty fun couple of games,” said Howden.

The Warriors will host the Pats on Friday and then close out the mini-series on Sunday at the Brandt Centre.