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The Waterloo Warriors might just be getting healthy – and dangerous – at the right time.

Riley Sonnenburg (Cambridge) netted a hat trick, Mike Moffat (Waterloo) scored twice, and Colin Behenna (Waterloo) had two points as the Warriors trounced the UOIT Ridgebacks 8-4 on Friday night at the Columbia Icefield Arena in Waterloo.

Top-six forwards Chris Chappell (Pickering) and Andrew Smith (Kitchener) bot returned from injury, and their presence seemed to spark the Waterloo offense – Chappell scored a goal, Smith added an assist, and Stephen Silas (Georgetown) added one of each for the Warriors.

Waterloo improved their record to 14-11-0 and, with just three games remaining in the regular season, they find themselves in a logjam in the upper half of the OUA West division. Mike Morrison (Hamilton) made 30 saves in the victory, which saw 12 different Warriors register at least one point.

The Ridgebacks got goals from Jesse Stoughton, Ryan Doucette, Mike Robinson, and James Woodcroft, as they saw their record fall to 16-8-2. Workhorse Brendan O'Neill, who leads all OUA goaltenders in minutes played, turned aside 26 shots in the defeat.

The Ridgebacks opened the scoring in the first off a Stoughton marker, before the responded with a goal-of-the-year candidate from Moffat to tie the score at 1-1. Moments later, Chappell spun and fired a backhander under O'Neill's pad, giving Waterloo a 2-1 advantage after the first period.

Moffat made it 3-1 with an unassisted marker off a Ridgebacks turnover midway through the second, and Behenna followed with a power play marker just 42 seconds later. But only 19 seconds after that, Doucette scored to bring the Ridgebacks back into the game, trailing 4-2.

As if three goals in 1:01 wasn't enough, Woodcroft scored to make it 4-3 before Silas responded on the man advantage off a gorgeous cross-crease pass from Behenna. Then, with the score at 5-3 Waterloo, Sonnenburg took advantage of a giveaway and deposited it to make the score 6-3 after 40 minutes.

Sonnenburg added a shorthanded marker off another turnover in the third, before Robinson scored to make it 7-4. But the final goal of the night went to Sonnenburg, who took a gorgeous Phillip Fife (Oromocto) feed and went bar down for his second career CIS hat trick.

The Warriors will now plan to honour their graduating seniors at tormorrow night's Sr. Night at the Columbia Icefield Arena. Puck drop between the Warriors and the Queen's Gaels is slated for 7pm.