The West Kelowna Warriors are closing in on the first division title in franchise history.

The Warriors lowered their magic number to clinch the Interior West to three Saturday night with a convincing 6-2 win over the visiting Sherwood Park Crusaders before more than 1,300 fans at Royal LePage Place.

They lead the second place Trail Smoke Eaters by 16 points with just 11 games left in the regular season.

Saturday, the Warriors controlled much of the game despite being in a tight contest through 40 minutes.

The Warriors saw a 2-1 third period lead evaporate when Brant Romaniuk’s shot deflected off a Warriors stick and sailed slowly over a prone Angelo Zol just 1:24 into the third.

But, just 30 seconds later, Natan Ethier converted a two-on-one with Noah Garthe to restore the one goal lead.

The Warriors never looked back.

Moments later, Liam Nilsson made it 4-2 when he snuck in from the left point, took a pass from Max Dinneen and beat Filip Vavro on the short side on the power play.

Ruslan Jamaldinov on a two-on-one with Ethier and Alexandre Lallier with his second tacked on insurance goals late as the Warriors won going away.

But, it was the response after the tying goal that had fans still buzzing after the game.

“It’s a good group, they’ve been working hard all year. They know how to respond in pressure scenarios and they came out and did that,” said head coach Simon Ferguson.

The Warriors jumped out to a 2-0 lead and could have had a few more had it not been for the play of Vavro in the Crusaders new over the first 40 minutes. His cross-crease glove save off Dylan Krayer during a first period power play has to be a contender for save of the year.

Lallier opened the scoring 31 seconds in, then set up Olivier Chan for a power play marker early in the second. But, Vavro kept the score close and gave the Crusaders a chance to chip away.

They got one off the rush later in the second then the fortuitous goal early in the third before the Warriors ran away and hid.

It was the Warriors top lines that did much of the damage Saturday. Lallier had two goals and an assist, Jamaldinov a goal and two assists, Ethier a goal and an assist and Caden Kemkaren-Humble a couple of helpers.

While praising the top six group, it was Lallier whose play has really been standing out the past three or four games.

“He plays with a lot of emotion and when he keeps that in check the right way, he’s a tough player for other teams to contain.”

He scored two but could have had four or five.

While the Warriors have a chance to clinch the division as early as this coming weekend, it’s the overall league title and home ice advantage throughout the playoffs that the Warriors have their sights set on.

Their 68 points are one in back of Coastal West-leading Cowichan Valley. The Warriors also hold two games in hand.

The Warriors won the only meeting between the two teams back in October during the league showcase.

West Kelowna returns to the ice next weekend with home dates against Vernon Friday and Okotoks Saturday.