June 20, 2025
By Alex Rubin
Two of the most storied franchises in the league meet up this Friday night in a must-win game for both the Toronto Rush (2-5) and New York Empire (4-5). With each team currently on the outside of the playoff picture in the East Division, every matchup adds heightened importance as the regular season comes closer to its finish.
Between these two teams, there is a lot of positive history. Toronto was the first team to go through an entire season undefeated and lift the championship trophy back in 2013. Since then, New York has taken the mantle as the premier franchise in the league, with undefeated championship seasons in 2019, 2022, and 2023. Both franchises are in the top three in all time wins in UFA history.
With each team already sitting on five losses this season, the proud franchises are looking to turn around their seasons and make a playoff push. Both teams are integrating a lot of new pieces, and they took a few weeks to find their groove after rough starts.
Toronto lost their first four games, before rebounding with a win over these Empire to get in the win column. Tom Blasman’s switch from the D-line to a key offensive role was one of the changes that spurred the Rush’s revival. Blasman was an honor roll player in week 8. He leads the team in assists, and is fourth in the entire league in assists per game. The Rush offense as a whole started slowly, but now leads the league in holds per game and red zone percentage as they’ve shored up their rotations and built chemistry over the course of the season.
On the New York side, their offensive center handler is also a first year Empire player. Calvin Brown sits third in the league in throwing yards despite playing in three fewer games than the two people above him. His clutch play has kept the Empire in close games, and he should only improve as he gets more comfortable with his new teammates.
Ben Jagt is having another MVP-caliber season. He leads the league in individual plus/minus, goals, and receiving yards. Not far behind him, John Randolph is third in individual plus/minus, while playing excellent two-way ultimate. The Empire have sustained more recent success than the Rush, but they have little margin for error remaining this season. After this game against the Rush, they just have contests against Philadelphia and Boston left–two of the teams above them in the standings.
Toronto has a slightly easier remaining schedule with two matchups remaining with Montreal, a game against Pittsburgh, and one more faceoff with Boston. However, with two fewer wins than New York, Philadelphia, and DC at the moment, Toronto also has nearly no margin for error.
Whichever of New York and Toronto wins Friday night’s game will set themselves up well to challenge for a playoff spot. Whichever team loses, will more likely than not find themselves on the outside looking in. You can watch the action live on the UFA YouTube page.
