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Pinksten blows the whistle for Kings on Bow, 4-3 in opener

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Dec 13, 2018

Staff photo by TOM KING Nashua South-Pelham's Ryan DeSimone bears down on Bow's Matt Wheeler during Wednesday night's 4-3 season opening Kings win at Conway Arena.

NASHUA — There were plenty of whistles in Wednesday night’s season opener between the Nashua South-Pelham and Bow High School boys hockey teams, but the one the Kings’ Johnny Pinksten wasn’t going to wait for made the difference.

Pinksten somehow poked home a rebound next to Falcons’ goalie Nate Carrier at 10:23 of the third period, snapping a 3-3 tie to give South-Pelham a 4-3 win at Conway Arena.

“I saw the puck and I know to play to the very last whistle,” Pinksten said. “I didn’t hear a whistle so I just kept going. I just hit the puck. I didn’t know it went in, to be honest with you, until I heard my teammates screaming.”

Pinksten was in the right place at the right time, perched right next to Bow goalie Nate Carrier and saw teammate Chris Skelley shoot from the point.

“Hes a firecracker,” South coach Shawn Connors said. “He always plays to the whistle. He does exactly what we tell him, that’s why hes such a good hockey player.”

Speaking of whistles, there were plenty as the teams combined for 16 penalties and 41 penalty minutes.

“A lot of it was our fault,”Connors said. “But it’s the first game of the season across the board and the refs were calling it tight.”

“That’s the way the game goes sometimes,”Bow coach Tim Walsh said. “We played hard. They (the Kings” drove to the net.”

But Bow had a 2-0 lead after one until S-P picked up the pace to help goalie Nate Serrintino (12 saves).

“I told them to step it up,” Connors said.“we needed to hit harder and win the loose pucks.”

Bow got a semi-breakaway goal by Devin Perry (Ben Tobeler assist) and a power play goal by Jacob Mielcarz (assist by Charles Smethhurst) for a 2-0 first period lead.

But then Moore and the Kings went to work as soon as the second period started. He tucked one past Carrier (Stephen Robbe assist) just 1:12 in and then Johnny Pinksten tied it 26 seconds later on a power play , assisted by Chris Skelley.

Moore flipped one past Carrier again at 12:55 of the second on another power play,and the Kings had the lead heading into the third. However, Bow’s Mielcarz evened things at 5:09 of the third in a 4 on 4 situation, tucking home his second shot on Serrentino to make it 3-3.

But then Pinksten was in the right place and had his ears ready.

“Fresh start, new team,” he said. “We’ve still got some stuff to work on, but it’s going to be a good season.”

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