Independent file photo Marshall’s Kaitlyn Timm controls the puck during their game against Fairmont on Feb. 9.

MARSHALL — When Marshall girls hockey coach Cassi Weiss picked the puck up off the ice and handed it to Kaitlyn Timm following her goal against Fairmont, confusion set in for the six-year varsity member. After all, it wasn’t her first goal, and it certainly wouldn’t be her last.

“I didn’t even really know when it happened,” Timm said. “(Weiss) took the puck and I was like, ‘Wait why are you taking that puck?'”

The timely goal not only served as the game-winning tally for the Tigers that day, much to the surprise of Timm it also put her in elite company of past Marshall girls hockey players in reaching the 100-point mark in her career. After taking time to reflect on the accomplishment, Timm said she is thrilled to reach this major milestone in her career.

“It felt really good because I had no idea, and I always see people celebrating milestones like these,” said Timm. “To be able to be one of those people is just a cool experience.”

Timm credits Weiss, along with past coaches Kevin Moran and Kevin Schroeder for believing in her and helping her to become a better hockey player.

“(I have to thank) my coach Cassi Weiss, she has definitely pushed me along the way,” said Timm. “Kevin Moran and Kevin Schroeder really helped too. They pushed me and believed in me. They brought me up when I was in seventh grade to come play varsity hockey.”

Timm began her career with the Marshall girls hockey team during the 2015-2016 season where she notched her first goal of her career against Worthington in a 10-0 win. She went on to finish with two points that season and has continued to improve on that mark in the years that followed.

After recording nearly a goal per game last season with 23 markers in 25 games with 15 assists for a career-high 38 points, Timm hasn’t slowed down in her senior season with a team-high 11 points (6-5-11) in nine games for the Tigers (6-3).

Weiss said her growth as a player has been a result of her motivation to continue to get better each and every day.

“Kaitlyn is a hard working, dedicated player. The key to her success at the varsity level is being motivated to be better than she was the day before,” said Weiss. “She has grown a lot in her leadership of the team. She has transformed into another coach in the locker room that also leads by example on the ice.”

As one of four captains on this year’s team alongside goaltender Emma Klenken, and defensemen Olivia Macchio and Emmy Barker, Timm has taken on the added responsibility of making sure players are getting the most out of practices and were taking the steps needed to improve away from the rink when ice time wasn’t available due to COVID.

“It took a lot before this season, especially just to get girls out and we couldn’t really do anything in person or really close to each other, so we’d have to go outside and do our warmups. And just making sure that people would do stuff on their own too,” said Timm. “We just had to take the ice time when you could.”

Timm hopes that all of the extra work put in by the team will pay off down the stretch as the Tigers carry on with their quest to reach the state tournament for the fourth time in program history.

“As a team, I hope that we can play to the best of our ability. We have a lot of young girls and so I hope that they can get the playing time that they deserve and they can see success through it,” said Timm. “We’ve had a good season so far. I hope that throughout this season we can just continue to grow and hopefully make it to state.”