VICTORIA, BC – The West Kelowna Warriors were down 3-0 before fans were in their seats on Sunday afternoon, as the Victoria Grizzlies scored 3 times on 8 shots in the first 5:09. West Kelowna ended up edging the Grizzlies 6-5 and the Q Centre.

The Warriors started chipping away with a goal late in the 1st from Andrew Johnson, deflecting the point shot from Rylan Yaremko.

West Kelowna made it 3-2 when Hunter Zandee scored on the man advantage.

The Grizzlies restored their 4-2 lead moments later, before Michael Buonincontri got his 1st of the night chasing Sean Cleary from the Victoria net.

The Grizzlies would make it 5-3 thanks to Cole Pickup, then Buonincontri made is 5-4 on a beautiful back door pass from Liam Blackburn.

Early in the 3rd period, Buonincontri completed the hat-trick banging one past Michael Stiliadis.

Mac Ferner would make a great outlet pass halfway through the period to Jonathan Desbiens who laid a perfect pass to Johnson for the 6-5 lead.

In the final minute, Garett Forster hit the side of the goal and the Warriors killed off the remainder of the clock, taking 5 of 6 points on their island swing.

The Warriors will dress up on Friday night to take on the Silverbacks in Salmon Arm. The next home game is Saturday once again against the Silverbacks.