CANTON — After navigating an unbeaten record through five tough nonleague matchups, the No. 1 Xaverian boys hockey team further strengthened its case Wednesday night as an early favorite to get back to the TD Garden.

Behind a fast start that built a three-goal lead in the opening 19 minutes, the Hawks (6-0) opened its Catholic Conference schedule with a 5-2 win over No. 5 Catholic Memorial, the two-time reigning conference champions, in a heated affair that drew 17 total penalties.

Jackson Morse (two goals) and Jack O’Neil (two assists) each finished with three points, leading the fast start by setting a highly-energized tone. The Knights were quick to respond with a bevy of opportunities and even won the shot battle, 32-24, but Xaverian senior Cole Pouliot-Porter (30 saves) put up his typical performance in net to never lose the lead.

“It’s always fun playing them, they’re a great program,” said Xaverian head coach Dave Spinale. “You know, it’s a long season. So, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. … We want to be playing our best in March, but that was just one more step to show that we can compete at a high level. I was proud of our guys.”

Seven penalties came in the final 2:12 as tempers flared, but there was plenty of passion and tension in a packed barn the whole game.

The Hawks fed on the atmosphere, quickly turning it into a lead. Morse put up a massive hit by the left wall to give Xaverian possession in the Knights’ zone, and he eventually dumped a pass into the left circle for Devin Gosciak to bury the game’s first goal less than three minutes in.

Catholic Memorial had a couple opportunities to tie the score back up, but couldn’t convert. The Hawks did a great job blocking shots, and Pouliot-Porter put up 10 saves in a first-period shutout. The Knights even had a power play only a few minutes after Xaverian built its lead, but the closing seconds of it saw Matt Dion send a pass to O’Neil for a breakaway, shorthanded goal with 9:04 left in the first.

“CM’s a powerful team,” O’Neil said. “We knew that we wanted to come out fast – have a good forecheck, play strong in front of our net. That was our really goal, we just put the foot on the gas.”

“We knew this team was strong, so we knew D-zone was the most important thing going into this game,” Morse added. “We’ve preached it all year, D-zone first. And I mean, it showed today. When our D-zone was strong, it generated offense.”

Tension only rose as the game went on, but Xaverian tacked on a 3-0 lead less than two minutes into the second period with Morse’s first goal. He batted a rebound in while falling to the ice.

CM’s Mike Corbett forced a turnover in the Hawks’ zone a couple minutes later and sniped a score to the far, top corner to get the goal back, but Xaverian was relentless in maintaining the two-goal lead. Rebounds were cleared right away and players continued to put their bodies on the line.

The Knights nearly turned a penalty kill into a their own shorthanded goal, but RJ Donahue’s shot struck iron. With just eight seconds left in the second, Colvin Callahan scored to get the lead back to three goals.

Nick D’Olympio tipped in a power-play goal with 12:32 left to give CM some life, but it couldn’t get another past Pouliot-Porter. Morse’s second goal with 2:25 put the game away.

“That line was going pretty good tonight, for sure,” Spinale said.

Xaverian’s Matt Dion, left, and Jack O’Neil celebrate O’Neil’s shorthanded goal in the first period against Catholic Memorial. (Chris Christo/Boston Herald)