Cayla Marie Barnes (born January 7, 1999) is an American

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player for PWHL Seattle of the

Professional Women's Hockey League The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL; , LPHF) is a women's professional ice hockey league in North America. The league comprises eight teams, four each from the United States and Canada. The teams play a Season (sports), regular season ...

(PWHL) and the United States women's national ice hockey team. She was drafted fifth overall by PWHL Montreal in the 2024 PWHL draft. She played

college ice hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the go ...

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

and Ohio State.

Playing career

Amateur and collegiate

As a youth player, Barnes played with the Lady Ducks in California, before leaving home to attend a prep school in New Hampshire at the

New Hampton School New Hampton School is an independent university-preparatory school, college preparatory high school in New Hampton, New Hampshire, United States. It has 330 students from over 30 states and 22 countries. The average class size is eleven, and the ...

. Barnes was one of three co-captains for

in the 2020–21 season, joining teammates Meagan Beres and Kelly Browne. On March 25, 2023, Barnes announced that she would be transferring to

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

for the 2023–24 season. In her lone season with the Buckeyes and her final year of NCAA eligibility, Barnes recorded 36 points in 39 games, and her +71 plus-minus led the league. In the finals of the national tournament, Barnes had an assist on the championship-winning goal, scored by Joy Dunne, capping off her six-year collegiate career with her first NCAA national championship.

Professional

On June 10, 2024, Barnes was drafted in the first round, fifth overall by PWHL Montreal in the 2024 PWHL draft. She signed a three-year contract with the team on June 21, 2024. During the 2024–25 season, she recorded two goals and 11 assists in 30 regular season games. During the league's expansion to eight teams ahead of the 2025–26 season, Barnes was left unprotected by the Victoire and signed a three-year contract with PWHL Seattle on June 5, 2025.

International play

Barnes participated in the

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, and 2017 IIHF Women's World U18 Championship, being named Best Defender of the tournament in both 2016 and 2017. She also participated in the 2017 U.S. Women's Residency Program. Barnes would make her senior debut for the US at the age of 19 at the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

, winning a gold medal as the youngest player on the team. She would then score six points in seven games for the US at the 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship, again winning gold and being named to the tournament all-star team. On January 2, 2022, Barnes was named to Team USA's roster to represent the United States at the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...

Personal life

Barnes attended the

, where she played ice hockey,

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, and

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

. She is in a relationship with

Providence College Providence College is a Private university, private Roman Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, it offers 47 undergraduate Academic ...

Goaltender, Hope Walinski.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* * *
Ohio State Buckeyes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Cayla 1999 births Living people American women's ice hockey defensemen People from Eastvale, California Boston College Eagles women's ice hockey players Ice hockey players from California Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2022 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in ice hockey Olympic silver medalists for the United States in ice hockey 21st-century American sportswomen LGBTQ ice hockey players American expatriate ice hockey players in Canada Sportspeople from Eastvale, California Sportspeople from Riverside County, California