MIDDLETON – Long live the champs. Well, kind of.

Despite nearly a whole season of St. John’s Prep leading all rankings while defending its Div. 1 state title, nothing could stop Catholic Memorial from repeating as Catholic Conference champions in a winner-take-all tilt between the two on Monday afternoon.

Trailing by one score entering the final frame at Essex Sports Center, the No. 3 Knights (16-2, 9-1) erupted for four goals as part of a 5-3 win over the No. 1 Eagles (14-2-1, 8-2). Three of St. John’s Prep’s five penalties came within the stretch, proving detrimental as Joe Marchi’s game-tying goal and Mike Corbett’s go-ahead goal for CM each came on power plays.

Five different players scored in all, capped by an empty-netter as time expired. A breakout game from defender Finn Burke and another sensational performance from goalie Owen Watson (22 saves) held off a vicious late charge from the Eagles, rounding off a critical win.

“They’re a great team, that was a great high school hockey game,” said Knights coach Larry Rooney. “We talked about that before the game, that we had the belt. … We wanted to hold onto that. That’s really important to us at Catholic Memorial. Just not as a coach, but our athletic department and our school, to be Catholic Conference champions. Of course we want to win a state championship too, but we’re not going to get there unless we do this.”

As expected, action in the first two periods was just about as even as it gets.

CM defender Anthony Pellitteri’s opening goal on a power play was matched just a minute later by Cam Umlah for a 1-1 tie in the first. Watson’s save on a one-timer in the slot drew as much awe as Eagles goalie Brian Cronin (25 saves) somehow stopping a three-shot frenzy in the dirty area, and each defense did a great job of preventing odd-man rushes and pucks floating across the middle.

The only difference by the end of the second period was a precarious bounce off the boards Watson wasn’t expecting when heading behind the net, giving Will Van Sicklin a wide-open lane for the 2-1 lead. But CM made sure the third period looked different.

An early 5-on-3 Knights advantage forced St. John’s Prep to over three consecutive minutes of penalty kill, setting up Marchi for the tying goal off a pass from Burke with 13:15 to play. CM gained another advantage five minutes later, and Corbett took his turn to score.

“Power play was good today, the second power play really stepped up, which was huge,” Burke said. “The goal to tie it up was really big because then we had the momentum.”

Morgan Lenehan’s goal on a rebound gave CM much-needed insurance, even with a 12-2 shot advantage in the frame with less than five minutes left.

St. John’s Prep came charging back, as Jake Vana dished a beautiful assist to Van Sicklin for his second score of the game with 2:15 to go. Christian Rosa delivered a hard shot that many in the building thought tied the game just 30 seconds later, but Watson somehow snatched it with his glove.

That foreshadowed another quality save with just seven seconds left after Cronin was pulled, sending the puck out in transition for Brendan MacNeil to finish off the empty-netter at the horn.

“That game could’ve gone either way, you saw the saves (Watson) made throughout the game,” Rooney said. “(We) played lose today, they competed and they skated hard. Our guys, they played for each other. … We saw it throughout the whole game, but we saw it (especially) in the third period.”