The Emma Laaksonen Award () is an ice hockey trophy awarded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association to the fair play player of the year of the Auroraliiga (previously called the and ). The award recognizes a player who best contributes to the scoring of their team while "playing fair," that is to say, while incurring very few penalty minutes. Winners typically exceed one point per game and are issued fewer than ten penalty minutes (PIM) over a full season.
It is named after defenseman Emma Terho (), former captain of the Finnish women's national ice hockey team and general manager of Kiekko-Espoo Naiset. Despite being named after a defenseman, it has only ever been awarded to forwards.
The Emma Laaksonen Award was first awarded, to Christine Posa of the Espoo Blues in 2011. Johanna Juutilainen and Saila Saari are the only players to have received the trophy more than once. Saari was awarded in 2013, while playing with JYP Jyväskylä, and in 2018, while playing with Oulun Kärpät. Juutilainen holds the record for times awarded, with three. She was the trophy recipient while playing with KalPa Kuopio in both 2021 and 2024, and with Ilves Tampere in 2026. Emilia Vesa, recipient for the 2018–19 season, and Anni Montonen, recipient for the 2024–25 season, are the only honorees to have won the trophy while averaging less than one point per game. In 2022, French national team player Emmanuelle Passard became the first international to win the award and was also the first recipient to have incurred zero penalty minutes in the award season.
The trophy is currently held by Johanna Juutilainen, who won the award while playing with Ilves] during the 2025–26 Auroraliiga season.
Award winners Season Winner Team GP Pts PIM2010–11Espoo Blues 26 28 42011–12Ilves Tampere 19 28 22012–13JYP Jyväskylä 28 39 22013–14JYP Jyväskylä 28 31 82014–15Espoo Blues 25 38 82015–16JYP Jyväskylä 23 36 42016–17KalPa Kuopio 22 36 62017–18Kärpät Oulu 26 44 82018–19Team Kuortane 28 21 42019–20Team Kuortane 30 52 6 2020–21KalPa Kuopio 25 35 2 2021–22IFK Helsinki 28 33 0 2022–23KalPa Kuopio 35 50 6 2023–24KalPa Kuopio 32 46 2 2024–25Kiekko-Espoo 32 31 2 2025–26Ilves Tampere 32 39 2 Source: Elite Prospects
All time award recipients + Player Wins Years won 3 20212024 2026 2 2013 2018 1 2016 1 2023 1 2025 1 2012 1 2017 1 2014 1 2022 1 2011 1 2015 1 2020 1 2019
References