Newest Carolina Hurricane Had Dad, Girlfriend In Attendance For NHL Debut

The Carolina Hurricanes had their first NHL debut of the season Thursday night as Finnish forward Juha Jaaska played his first game in the big leagues.

This season was the 26-year-old forwards first in North America after the Canes signed the undrafted free agent to a one-year ELC this summer, and after 25 games in the AHL with the Chicago Wolves, he finally got a shot in the NHL.

Jaaska, who was slotting in for the injured Tyson Jost, played 8:21 against the Florida Panthers as the fourth line center where he had three hits and won 80% of his draws.

“Big, big… huge moment for me,” Jaaska said during the first period intermission. “There’s been moments where you think that this is so far away, playing in the NHL, and now when it’s happening, it’s huge. All that excitement and being nervous, I haven’t felt like that in a long time. So it’s been pretty cool.”

To make it even cooler for the Finn, he got to have both his girlfriend and father, Jussi, in attendance too.

“The timing couldn’t have been better,” Jaaska said. “Like it was my dad’s first time in America. He flew here two days ago and flew to Chicago and was ready to watch today our minor team’s game and so now he got to see my first NHL game. It’s something that I’m really thankful for and he is too. It’s amazing.”