HINGHAM – Over the last few weeks, head coach Tony Messina has preached the narrative that between the best of the private schools and the best of the public schools in Div. 1 this year, it’s truly anybody’s game on any given night.

On Wednesday, as hockey titans collided in front of a packed Pilgrim Arena crowd, his Hingham boys hockey team showed exactly what he meant.

Behind a successful forecheck to limit opposing opportunities throughout much of the way, as well as a few quality strikes to jump out to an early lead, the No. 3 Harbormen (10-1-5) bruised their way to a 3-1 nonleague win over No. 2 Catholic Memorial (14-2).

Goals from Joe Hennessey and Travis Rugg in the opening 18 minutes gave Hingham all the offense it would need, while goalie Luke McLellan fought off a tenacious final response from the Knights with 12 of his 27 saves in the third period.

In a year in which many have labeled St. John’s Prep and CM as the two title favorites, Hingham’s 2-2 tie against the Eagles and this win have combined for nothing short of a massive statement.

“They’re up to the task, they’re ready to go,” Messina said. “Any time we play anyone in this building, we can win it, for sure. They’ve got a lot of confidence right now. … When they play CM, they’re up for the game (no matter how much rest in-between tilts).”

The only thing more suffocating than the mob of fans in attendance was each teams’ collapsing defenses throughout most of the opening period.

The playoff-like intensity of the matchup showed often, as neither team had much space to operate when leaving their defensive zone. It wasn’t until Hennessey found a rare lane at the left circle that either team was able to take a lead, and he finished off the game’s opening goal past Owen Watson (17 saves) with 1:50 left in the first. But just nine seconds is all Knights forward Tyler Hamilton needed to bury his own goal out of a faceoff, knotting the score at 1-1.

Hingham was quick to respond, though, as Rugg found more rare open space along the boards to dash toward the net with the puck in the opening minute of the second period. He put a move on Watson to bait him down to his pads, pulled the puck around him and finished a 2-1 lead with ease from the slot.

From there, the Harbormen defense continued to deny the Knights from many chances, allowing just 16 shots on net between the first two periods.

“It all starts with a good forecheck,” Messina said. “When we’re pressuring from behind, the D can stand up and it kind of limits what they can do. We’re fortunate. We block a lot of shots, our goalie played well. There’s a lot of things you have to do well to beat a good team like that.”

As defining as those periods were for the Harbormen, the third was where their guts showed off the most.

Catholic Memorial fired on all cylinders in small bursts, peppering McLellan from every angle to try to come back. Wrap-arounds and rebound bids didn’t break through, while most shots on net came from the faceoff circles as Hingham’s defense kept just about everything to the outside. And in between each stretch of activity, the Harbormen maintained possession in CM’s defensive zone to kill clock.

The Knights did have a short chance to get an advantage by pulling Watson with 55 seconds left, but an Ace Concannon empty-netter sealed the deal.