Emilia Kallio | Toronto Maple Leafs

"1967—far too long. I didn’t come here just to make history; I came here to help bring the Stanley Cup back to Toronto." - Emilia Kallio

The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t won’t the Stanley Cup since 1967… is that about to change?

Emilia Kallio was born on July 15, 2006, in Tampere, Finland, a proud hockey city and home to Finnish legends like Teemu Selänne and Patrik Laine. She grew up in a household where the game was everything. Her father, Riku Kallio, was a former Liiga player turned youth coach, and her mother, Sari, played for the Finnish women’s national team before becoming a physiotherapist. Emilia’s older brother, Niklas, played in the Finnish U20 SM-sarja, and their backyard in Hervanta was turned into a home rink every winter—hosting intense sibling battles that shaped her into a fearless competitor.

Even as the youngest, Emilia had the sharpest edge. She despised losing and wouldn’t back down from older, tougher boys. She idolized players like Auston Matthews, Marie-Philip Poulin, and Noora Räty, dreaming of not just playing professionally—but doing so in the National Hockey League (NHL). She eventually was already skating rings around boys two or three years older.

A Trailblazing Junior Career

Emilia played boys’ hockey through the Finnish junior system, excelling at every level despite often being the only girl on the ice. She became the first girl to play for the Tappara U16 boys’ team, where she quickly gained a reputation for her elite hockey IQ, silky hands, and blistering wrist shot.

Unlike many girls who transitioned into women’s leagues or headed to North America for NCAA development, Emilia refused. She wanted to stay in the men’s system to test herself against the best. She moved up to Tappara’s U18 team, holding her own and then some, notching strong point totals while regularly outplaying her peers.

When she was 18, she made a bold move and declared for the CHL Import Draft, getting picked up by the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the third round of the 2024 OHL Draft, becoming the first European woman to join the OHL and the first woman to play major junior hockey since Manon Rhéaume’s brief appearance decades earlier there and in NHL preseason