On June 10, Cayla Barnes was drafted in the first round, fifth overall by PWHL Montreal.

Almost exactly three months later on Sept. 9, Barnes’ new squad announced its franchise name at long last: the Montreal Victoire. It was a bold move: committing your franchise’s identity to winning so intensely that you name your team after the French word for victory.

But with Barnes as its top prospect, Montreal has every reason to be confident that its budding franchise will live up to its name and win — a lot Barnes was born on Jan. 7, 1999, and raised in Eastvale, California, east of Los Angeles and near Riverside. Right from the jump, she ran on competitiveness.

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She began playing hockey because of her brothers and immediately pushed the limits of her immense natural skill. Her coach with the Anaheim Lady Ducks youth team recalls Barnes, at 10 years old, playing at the highest level of 12U hockey and captaining the Ducks’ power play at national tournaments. To not only play against older players but star against them on the biggest stage was just Barnes’s MO.

At age 15, Barnes made the decision to leave Southern California and move to New Hampshire to attend New Hampton School, where she further developed her hockey skills. Treating hockey like a profession at such a young age helped Cayla to take the next step in her expertise.

Barnes ended up being recruited by and signing with Boston College, one of the most prestigious collegiate hockey programs in the world. She was one of the best defenders in program history. She was named captain for two years — only the ninth time in Boston College’s history that they’ve had a multiyear captain.

She then transferred to Ohio State for her graduate year and final year of eligibility.

Her year in Columbus was as epic as a final year can get. Barnes and the Buckeyes won the national title, and she even assisted Joy Dunne’s goal that won the whole thing. Ultimately, Barnes finished her accomplished six-year collegiate career on top, finally holding a national championship trophy.

As if that wasn’t enough, Barnes competed in the Olympics twice while in college, in both 2018 and 2022. She won gold with the American women’s hockey team in PyeongChang while being the youngest player on the squad at 19 years old, and then won silver with Team USA in Beijing.

With Barnes, the Victoire are getting an accomplished leader on the blue line who has won at the highest levels of collegiate and international hockey. If anyone knows what it takes to compete for a Walter Cup, it’s Barnes.

To make matters sweeter, she’ll be joining a team in Montreal that already has recent playoff experience and will be teaming up with the league’s best defender from a year ago, Erin Ambrose.

She’ll also reunite with Jennifer Gardiner, who was her teammate on the Ohio State national championship team.

So don’t be surprised if the Victoire’s bold naming choice turns out to be a prophetic one. They picked a proven winner, and when it’s all said and done, Cayla Barnes could end up being one of the best hockey players to ever come out of Southern California.

Ethan Inman is a senior writing about Los Angeles’ unique hockey heroes in his column, “L.A. on Ice,” which runs every other Thursday.