Column: At 18, Cayla Barnes brings youthful exuberance to the U.S. women’s national hockey team

Reporting from san jose —  On a good day, Cayla Barnes joked, she can pass for 5-foot-2. She is the smallest member of the U.S. women’s national hockey team and, at 18, the youngest of the candidates for a spot on the Pyeongchang Olympic team. But those numbers don’t account for her heart and will, and they surely don’t quantify the fluidity of her skating and cleverness of her vision on the ice, assets that make a strong case for her to wear red, white and blue at the Winter Games.

The U.S. women, who continued their pre-Olympic tour on Friday with a 3-1 loss to archrival Canada at SAP Center in San Jose, have won seven of the last eight world championships but haven’t won an Olympic gold medal since the first women’s tournament in 1998. Their foundation is six two-time Olympians and six others who lost an overtime heartbreaker to Canada in 2014 in Sochi, Russia, but young players such as Barnes — who grew up in Southern California admiring Hall-of-Fame defenseman Scott Niedermayer — could help Team USA end Canada’s Olympic dominance.

“They said they wanted my energy, my youth. That’s what I could bring to the team and that’s what I’ve been bringing,” said Barnes, who grew up in Eastvale, in western Riverside County, where she played soccer and roller hockey and took to the ice to follow her four older brothers.

“I never expected that I’d be here, at 18 years old. I hoped that maybe I’d have chances with the national team during college and then hopefully toward the next Olympics, but I never expected to be at this spot right now.”

Barnes played for the Junior Kings bantam-AAA team and for the Lady Ducks before realizing she’d have to go east to continue improving. She attended prep school in New Hampton, N.H., and is the only player who has won three consecutive gold medals at the under-18 women’s world championships.

Barnes, who has exercise-induced asthma and carries an inhaler with her, barely missed earning a berth on the U.S. pre-Olympic roster, and so began her freshman year at Boston College. She withdrew when Team USA’s coaching and management staff, seeking an infusion of enthusiasm and creativity, invited her back in late October.

“She’s got a great hockey IQ and feel for the game,” said coach Robb Stauber, the former Kings goaltender. “When we’re playing our best we’re moving and hitting seams, and she gets that. She gets the movement so well, in some ways some other players can look at her and they can learn from her, which is a good thing.”

She scored a goal against Finland in her first game in the Four Nations Cup. “I had to jump in to a team that’s been together for at least three months when I came in. That was hard,” she said. “I had to adjust and I had to learn things they already knew and I had to jump in. But everyone was super supportive and once I got the hang of things, it’s been an awesome experience.”

The older players have been welcoming. “They take me under their wing, almost, like my big sisters. So that’s super-awesome,” she said. “They know the ropes. They know what’s going on.”

Barnes is familiar with the U.S. women’s rivalry with Canada because she made her national team debut a year ago in two games against the defending Olympic champions. The teams will face each other on Sunday in Edmonton in their final pre-Olympic meeting. “There’s nothing like it. It’s such a deep-rooted rivalry and it’s so fun,” Barnes said. “We really love to play against them. They’re such a good opponent.”

Adding Barnes, Sidney Morin and forward Haley Skarupa and cutting forward Annie Pankowski of Laguna Hills left Team USA with 25 players. Only 23 (including a mandatory three goalies) can go to Pyeongchang, leaving Stauber and his staff difficult decisions before they announce the Olympic roster on Jan. 1. In what seems a good omen for Barnes, Stauber isn’t concerned that she’s the youngest of the group. “I understand that at times people can get fearful of young players but I don’t. That’s just not who I am,” he said. “I trust them and I believe in them and they’re here.”

Barnes always has been precocious, so it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if she’s chosen for the Pyeongchang team. “For me, that’s the ultimate. That’s the dream. That’s what I want to accomplish and I want to be on that 23-man roster,” she said. “It’s a process and it’s all part of the process and we’re all committed to this program. At the end of the day, whatever team gets to go is who I’ll be rooting for so I’m truly excited to keep this going.”

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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