Defenseman Henri Jokiharju scored his first professional goal in his AHL debut for the Rockford IceHogs on Friday night at BMO Harris Bank Center in Rockford.
Jokiharju fired a slap shot from the top of the right face-off circle past Chicago Wolves goaltender Oscar Dansk in the first period.
Take another looooookkkk….
🚨🚨JOKI JOKI JOKI JOKI JOKI JOKI🚨🚨 pic.twitter.com/SU2xTAFKul
— Rockford IceHogs (@goicehogs) February 2, 2019
The Blackhawks assigned Jokiharju to the AHL on Thursday after he tallied no goals, 12 assists and a team-high 54.1 Corsi For percentage in 37 NHL games. He missed a handful games in December and January while helping the Finnish men’s national junior team win gold at the World Junior Championship.
Jokiharju, who was drafted in the first round of the 2017 NHL draft by Chicago, scored two goals and had three assists in seven games during the World Juniors tournament. After the 19-year-old returned from the tournament, he had one assists in five games and only played more than 16 minutes once before be assigned to the AHL.