Joonas Vihko (born April 6, 1981) is a Finnish former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

winger. Vihko began his career with

Kiekko-Vantaa Kiekko-Vantaa is an ice hockey team from Vantaa, Finland, playing in the Mestis league. It plays its home games in Trio Areena. Kiekko-Vantaa has been in Mestis since the league started in 2000 and have been in the finals twice, losing both times ...

before moving to his hometown team

HIFK HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK ) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...

in 1998. Having played in U18 and U20 level he eventually made his way up to the senior team. In 2004-05 he was loaned out to

HC Salamat Hockey Club Kirkkonummen Salamat or HCK Salamat are a Finnish ice hockey team in the III-divisioona, the fifth-tier men's ice hockey league in Finland. They play in Kirkkonummi, a municipality in the western Greater Helsinki region, at Varuboden ...

and in 2005-06 he moved to

SaiPa SAIPA ( fa, سایپا, ''SAIPA'') is an Iranian automaker headquartered in Tehran. The SAIPAC (an acronym for the French ''Société anonyme iranienne de production des automobiles Citroën'') was established in 1965 as with 75% Iranian ownersh ...

for a brief tenure. He then signed with

HPK Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho (HPK) is a professional ice hockey team in the Liiga, the top men's ice hockey league in Finland. Their home ice is the Ritari-areena in Hämeenlinna. HPK was established in 1929. The parent club of the team is HPK Edu ...

and after four seasons he moved to Sweden to sign for

Luleå HF Luleå Hockeyförening is an ice hockey club from Luleå, Sweden. The club has been playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden, since the 1984–85 season. They are the northernmost team in the league and h ...

.Lulea HF's 2010-11 Roster
/ref> Vihko was drafted 103rd overall in the

2002 NHL Entry Draft __NOTOC__ The 2002 NHL Entry Draft was the 40th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 22 and 23, 2002 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario. Two hundred and ninety-one players were drafted in total: 35 from the Ontario Hockey League (OHL); ...

by the

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Mighty may refer to: * ''Mighty'' (The Planet Smashers album) * ''Mighty'' (Kristene DiMarco album) * ''The Mighty'' (1929 film), a 1929 American action film *'' The Mighty'', a 1998 comedy-drama film * ''The Mighty'' (comics), a DC Comics title * ...

but never signed a contract and remained in Finland. He has represented Finland at U20 level.

Career statistics

References

External links

* 1981 births Finnish ice hockey left wingers HC Salamat players HIFK (ice hockey) players HPK players Ilves players Anaheim Ducks draft picks Living people Luleå HF players SaiPa players EC Bad Tölz players Vaasan Sport players Ice hockey people from Helsinki {{finland-icehockey-winger-stub