June 4, 2026
By Charlie Hoppes

This edition of “Friday Night Frisbee” has to be one of the biggest can’t-miss games at the midpoint of any season the league has seen. It features New York and Boston, two cities with an ultimate rivalry dating back to the 1980s. This game will have multiple MVP frontrunner candidates, four former MVPs who have totalled six MVP trophies, three Championship Weekend MVPs, at least a handful or so future Hall of Famers, two young Belgian stars that can each make a case as the best player in the world potentially lined up head-to-head, the best offense in league history, the defending champs, Jeff Babbitt squaring off against the team he won three titles with alongside the team he won with last season, with an undefeated season and first place in the East Division on the line.

And so all eyes will be on the “Friday Night Frisbee” game in Week 7, with the 5-0 reigning champion Boston Glory hosting a New York Empire team that looks every bit the part of their dominant selves from the first part of the decade.

Coming into the season, I thought it possible that the Glory would continue their 2025 championship blueprint of spamming Jeff Babbitt in the backfield as the world’s most overqualified reset handler. Thus far, that’s not been the case, with only one game in which Babbitt has surpassed 14 completions. In fact, he’s transitioned to the D-line in recent weeks, fully turning the keys to the offense over to last year’s MVP Gustav Haflin. 

Decraene scorched DC and Montreal to the tune of 14 assists and 10 goals on 107-of-108 passing to open the year. In the three games since then, in poor weather conditions or on the road, he has had 8 throwaways and three drops, and a 91.7 completion percentage that is exactly in line with his rookie-season mark. He has reverted to the balanced usage he showed in that first season with the Royal, a dangerous two-way threat that is a matchup nightmare for any opponent. He’ll need to find the efficiency he showed at the beginning of the season and throughout the Glory’s run to a title last year if he hopes to push the Boston offense to the top of the league. Right now they are performing like a top-five unit, which is both excellent and also a bit of a letdown considering the hyper-elite five-game stretch that ended last year and started this one.

Veteran stars Ben Sadok and Thomas Edmonds have been distributing well, and with very few turnovers to speak of, to set up the offense for more dynamic success. And the Boston D-line has been outstanding to start the season, led by a three-headed monster: Gustav Haflin, Gus Haflin and Oscar Graff have gotten turns and punched them in for breaks all year long, with some added help from Glory newcomer and former league MVP Rowan McDonnell. The team is second in the league with 12.8 blocks per game, but their 57.3 D-line conversion percentage is only ninth. That certainly doesn’t seem like cause for alarm just yet–the addition of Babbitt to the line, as well as more appearances in the future from last year’s Defensive Player Of The Year Tannor Johnson-Go, should make their break attempts more consistent without losing the explosiveness. 

It isn’t often that an undefeated defending champ is considered an underdog at home to a team that already has one blemish in the loss column, but the Glory will be in that position this weekend against the New York Empire. Throughout their dynastic run from 2019 to 2023, New York went 59-3. But they looked mortal in 2024 and 2025, with a 15-11 record and two first-round exits. With some notable additions and some unheralded rookies contributing outstanding play, the Empire have looked absolutely dominant in their four wins. The O-line has been nothing short of the greatest we’ve ever seen, on record-smashing pace for both hold percentage (84.1, well ahead of the 2022 Empire’s 81.2 mark) and O-line conversion percentage (74, obliterating the 69.1 rate of the 2022 Empire, which already stands dramatically ahead of the 2021 Union’s second-best-ever 64.7 percentage). Matt LaBar is showing his breakout season a year ago was no fluke, with 18 assists and 12 goals, a 96.8 completion percentage, and a perfect 6-for-6 on huck attempts. Solomon Rueschemeyer-Bailey continues to be the best high-volume possession handler the league has seen. Longtime stars Jack Williams and Ben Jagt have been their Hall of Fame selves when they have been on the field. Second-year cutter Jacob Cowan has built on his strong rookie campaign, and Salt Lake import Braden Eberhard has yet to turn the disc over on 101 completions.

But the spoke of this powerful, crushing wheel has been Alex Atkins. In his fifth season, Atkins has arguably been the best player in the league, since he arrived in New York this spring. He has just two turnovers on the season–a missed huck and a red zone miscommunication–despite ranking 14th in the league in completions. But he’s been far from conservative with the disc, hucking 1.8 times per game to go along with countless blades, hammers, and big-gainer breaks. And he’s been nearly as dangerous as a receiver, averaging 238 receiving yards (16th in the league among players with at least three games played) and 1.8 goals per game.

The defense has been historically great as well, as their 42.3 break percentage would have ranked third all-time coming into this season (though it also stands as merely third this season so far, behind even more dominant performances by the Spiders and the Carolina Flyers). D-line rookies Luke Barry, Nicholas Whitlock, Charlie Panarella, and Eamon Conneely have combined for 14 assists, 24 goals, and 16 blocks. Marques Brownlee’s six blocks are already the most he’s had in a season since 2022. And John Randolph is making a case for First-Team All-UFA, driving every break attempt with his brand of relentless cutting and elite passing.

So how do you incorporate perhaps the best ultimate player in the world into a lineup that’s seen these levels of success? It’s the sort of “problem” that has largely been unique to the Empire over the years, and it’s a “problem” they will face this Friday in Boston, as Daan De Marrée will don New York pinstripes for the first time. With O-line anchor Rueschemeyer-Bailey out of the lineup, might De Marrée fill his spot? His rookie season saw De Marrée rack up 33 assists and 45 goals against just 11 turnovers and a 95.7 completion percentage across only 10 games, largely spent on the Chicago Union O-line. 

But with the Empire offense performing better than any O-line in league history, it would also make a lot of sense to slot De Marrée on defense–he had 19 blocks last year, again, in only 10 games. Turning De Marrée and his famous endurance loose on nearly every Empire D point, pairing him with the superstars Randolph and Brownlee, and potentially setting up a direct, one-on-one matchup against his countryman Decraene, the man who edged him out for the 2025 MVP award—it has to be tempting for the New York coaching staff to steer into something that would both be an enormous add to their defense, and perhaps the most electric viewing experience in the league this year. 

You’ll want to tune in to YouTube this Friday. No matter the outcome, part one of Empire-Glory 2026 is going to be a game you’ll think about for a long time. Or at least until they run it back seven days later in Week 8.

ABOUT CHARLIE HOPPES

Charlie Hoppes has coached ultimate for 20 years, including several stints in the UFA. He was co-head coach of the New York Empire–helping to lead them to undefeated championship seasons in 2022 and 2023–and is currently a coaching consultant for the Indianapolis Alleycats. Hoppes provides individualized coaching services to players, coaches, and teams at all levels through Charlie Hoppes Ultimate Coaching & Consulting (CHUCC). Learn more at charliehoppes.com