It may not have been pretty, but Cailey Davis will never forget her first career OUA goal. 

Everything but the finish reserved a special place in her heart the night of October 15, 2021. 

The game, her first ever contest in the hockey cathedral that used to be Maple Leaf Gardens. The opponent, dressed in red and white and carrying a York Lions crest the same way both her parents did during their own OUA hockey careers. 

Even the celebration, one that ensued after tripping over a Lions defender and jamming home a loose puck is one Davis, now a fourth year, can recite from memory. "I remember being on the bench and looking up and my mom was wearing a York toque," she recalls. 

"Then I scored my goal and I remember I looked back up and she had a Ryerson hat on," she added. 

The puck she scraped past the goal line of her parents' alma mater now sits enclosed in an acrylic casing on her bedroom desk and serves as just one of the many memories Davis has of her hockey and family life intertwining with one another. 

Early mornings, late weekends and the inability for either one of her parents to see past the bulky hockey bags that once obstructed the trunk of the family SUV are just a few accounts of Davis' blended life. 

Even the holidays fail to leave room for anything more as Davis and her family swap out rubber pucks and razor-sharp skates for leather pads and hockey sticks diminished to the width of toothpicks for their annual Christmas road hockey affair. 

"Hockey is everything in our household," says Davis. "Literally every thought in our household is about hockey," she added. 

Growing up playing with older girls make up some of her earliest memories of the sport that she began learning through her coach/mother, Jackie, in her hometown of Sutton, Ont,. 

That practice soon evolved into perfecting her craft alongside her father Ben, who's run a renowned high-level training facility in the city's east end since Cailey was born in 2003. 

The program has developed the skills of both amateur and professional players alike, including Edmonton Oiler Jeff Skinner and Chicago Blackhawk Andreas Athanasiou, as well as 2018 Stanley Cup champion Devante Smith-Pelley. 

Crucially, the facility has allowed for Davis to continuously improve her game, working on her edge work and lately, her ability to escape shoot when the opportunity presents itself. Cailey's younger brother, Cole, also makes time to train at the family's facility throughout the year and continue his pursuit of an NHL career. 

"All of us being there and just working together to build something that is so important based on something that's so important to all of us…it's something I'd never want to change," said Cailey. 

Cole is currently playing in his third season alongside the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL and was joined by Cailey and the rest of his family at the 2024 NHL draft last June.

During his tenure with the York men's hockey team, Cailey's father, Ben, was nominated as an OUA West Second Team All-Star three years in a row and earned York's Athlete of The Year award in 1995. He went on to play professionally in Germany and has yet to relinquish his love for the game following his memorable OUA experience with the Lions. 

It was at York's campus where Ben met his future wife, Jackie, who also played the sport he loved for the Lions' female hockey program as well. 

Understanding her parents' legacy at the university level is something Cailey has never forgotten. Her goal, to play the sport in the same way her parents did at the collegiate level, has forever been an internal motivator for her during her ascension within the sport's ranks. 

That goal was finally met when she joined the Bold, then the Ryerson Rams, in the summer of 2021. 

"I think the OUA itself is a very high-level league," said Davis. "Having both my parents play there and knowing that you can find so much success in the OUA, I think that was definitely a goal of mine."

Since her memorable debut with the program, Davis has appeared in over 80 games with the blue and gold and has experienced an increase in offensive production every year she's played in in Ontario's top collegiate flight. 

On pace to record career-best figures in assists and goals in 2025, understanding Davis' impact on the Bold goes well beyond the nightly stat sheet and separates her play from many others not just on the Bold, but throughout the entire OUA. 

Her ability to take on the role of forward and defender has unlocked an infinite amount of options for head coach of the Bold Lisa Haley to work with and help the program succeed. 

Additionally, her role on the penalty kill has propelled the Bold as a top-three special teams unit in their division in two of the last three seasons and coincidentally, Davis' nine career points against the Lions has helped the Bold pick up crucial points over their city rivals year after year. 

But above all else, Davis has become a master of accomplishing the intricacies of the game since arriving at TMU desperately trying to find her role with the program. 

"I feel like I've really figured out who I am and what I aspire to be," mentioned Davis on her evolution as both a player and person during her Bold tenure. "Now here in my fourth year, I just feel like I've found a completely new identity for me." 

With an 'A' now firmly pressed against the heart of her jersey to signify her role as an assistant captain, Davis is marveled by her teammates and coaching staff for her ability to keep her head down and lead by example every time she hits the ice. 

"I think the little things are so important," says Davis. "You yourself don't really have to be the hero in every situation but I think if you kind of lay the foundation and keep pushing and pushing, I think there's always a route to find."

Davis' route however, is one that differs from the one she yearned to replicate after hearing stories of her parents' experiences in the OUA well before she was born. It involves hard work, a relentless drive and keeping her head down until the task at hand is complete. 

The identity doesn't bother her one bit. 

"I think my path does differ," mentioned Davis on the dissimilar OUA careers of both herself and her parents. "They may have been in the same league but I feel like I'm having a completely different experience than what they had."

"Ultimately I'm my own player and I've kind of left maybe not as many points here as they have, but kind of just a legacy of hard work, grit and determination."

Despite striving to forge her own path in the world of collegiate hockey, knowing her parents share the same love and experience for the sport is an element of Davis' familial relationship that she finds herself leaning into the most during her time with the Bold.  

The multi-faceted role of being not just a coach, but a parent has become a haven for Davis to ascend to in times of success and struggle. 

Whether that arrives in the form of her father, Ben, splicing game film to highlight areas of improvement merely hours after the final whistle, or a simple postgame phone call directed to her mother, Jackie, in search of a solace to her struggles, the bond fused together through hockey is one Cailey and the Davis family have always known and fail to let go of. 

That connection was put on full display the night of January 30th that featured the Bold take on the University of Toronto (UofT) Varsity Blues in the stoic shadows of Varsity Arena. 

Trailing their rivals 2-1 midway through the second period, Kayla Kondo retrieved a loose puck in the Varsity Blues' corner before blindly shoveling a pass to the mouth of UofT's goal. As if it were on a string, the pass made its way to the tape of Davis, who pounced on the open space and unleashed an uncontested slap shot to beat goaltender Carlee Vance for her third goal of the season. 

As she skated her way to the Bold bench in celebration, Davis remembers looking up into the stands, just like she did the first time she scored in the OUA, and seeing her mother with a smile draped across the width of her face. By the time the game wrapped up, her father had already called, exclaiming "that's all the work we've been putting in," to celebrate what Davis credits to being the nicest goal of her university career. 

Davis has come a long way from the scrappy goal she scored against the Lions all those years ago and her family has been at her side every step of the way. Hockey is a family game for Davis and is reinforced with moments like these. 

Her journey is one forged from inspiration through her parents and more importantly, one that is entirely her own. 

"I think they've been the biggest cheerleaders and the biggest role models for me and just an unwavering amount of support from them," said Davis. "They've always pushed me to be the best in everything I can be while still having great character."