Close to 1,300 school children crammed into Royal LePage Place in West Kelowna on Tuesday afternoon for a rare BCHL afternoon game and to hear an anti-bullying message from the West Kelowna Warriors.

The Warriors and Vernon Vipers faced-off at 11 a.m. on Tuesday in the first of two afternoon games this week between the two teams who will also meet on Wednesday in Vernon. Results were unavailable at the Capital News press deadline.

"This is to make kids aware of anti-bullying month," said Warriors director of business operations Alex Draper. "We invited all the schools in West Kelowna to attend for free. It's an absolute zoo and that's what we want. We want the kids to come and scream and they're all bringing signs and we have pink thunder sticks."

It's the third year in a row the Warriors have held an afternoon, mid-week game to promote the anti-bullying message. This year Warriors captain Kyle Marino addressed the crowd during one of the intermissions, speaking directly to area kids about the negative effects of bullying.

"It was special for the kids to hear the anti-bullying message directly from our captain," said Draper. "It's a fantastic day and it's all about the kids."

In the end the Warriors scored four times in the third period to beat Vernon 4-1.