Some may call it fate, but leave it to the North Country to bring these two together. In 2019, Katherine got hired to be the Assistant Coach for the Women's Lacrosse program at Colgate. She was excited for the opportunity to be closer to her family, and be back in Upstate NY. What she didn't realize is that this job would also lead her right to Max. Max had been working at Colgate for 3 years by the time Katherine got there. In typical Max fashion he was skeptical of Katherine, but it seemed that everyone else around them knew it was the perfect match. Fast forward a couple months to December. Max and Keith Tyburski (officiant and friend) were hosting the annual "Shitmas" party. They invited Katherine and her roommates to the party. Max actually picked up Katherine and her roommate. Max will say that Katherine didn't thank him for the ride, but Katherine will tell you that she did and he just wasn't listening (a trait of Max that still exists today). Max went on the rest of the night not speaking to Katherine because he thought she was rude, but that did not stop his Dad from becoming fast friends with her. In fact, Katherine and Dan sat at the famous "Tybo Bar" for two hours talking about their shared love for their hometown of Canton, NY. After the party ended, and Katherine went home, Dan found Max and said "what the hell are you doing?" It was a short time later that Max invited Katherine to play hockey one night after work. It was then that he realized, she wasn't rude and she could indeed hang. The two began to talk and hangout more regularly until the pandemic hit and they became inseparable.

Max and Katherine planned a small get away to Montreal before Christmas at the Sweeney's. The plan was to enjoy each others company and walk around to explore the Old Port, and Christmas Market. Katherine secretly had hoped that this might be the moment, but didn't want to get too excited. On the second day, they were on their way to the Christmas Market when Max told her he had a gift for her. He reached in to his jacket pocket smiling, and got down on one knee. Even though she had hoped he would, she was still in shock when he asked her to marry him. The ring left her speechless, his grandmother's diamond that he had reset. It was so beautiful she didn't want to touch it at first. At least until Max said "are you going to put it on?". As she put it on she noticed two women walking towards them, in which Max explained he had hired a photographer to capture the moment and walk around the city to take their engagement photos. It was a bitter cold day in Montreal, but it didn't matter because the excitement of being engaged was the only thing they could think about...as you can see in the photos. They celebrated all night by drinking champagne, going to dinner, a speakeasy, and ended the night with a ride on La Grande Rue de Montreal overlooking the city lights.