October 8, 2024
By Evan Lepler
It’s been 45 days since the Minnesota Wind Chill hoisted the 2024 UFA Championship trophy, shocking the ultimate universe with their stunning pair of victories over DC and Carolina. And, I must admit, over the past month and a half, my respect for Minnesota’s accomplishment has only grown.
It’s easy to focus on the extremely windy conditions that shifted the dynamics of the sport in breathtaking ways, but there’s no doubt that the Wind Chill astutely adapted to the blustery landscape better than anyone. Furthermore, from veterans like Bryan Vohnoutka, Josh Klane, and Dylan DeClerck to next generation stars like Will Brandt, Paul Krenik, and Gordon Larson, the Wind Chill had a bunch of guys that were just plain clutch, dudes that—for the most part—had never been there before yet still met the moment and capitalized on the incredible opportunity.
There undoubtedly will be skeptics determined to slight the Wind Chill’s achievement heading into 2025. However, the reality is that, from a talent development standpoint, Minnesota should likely have an even stronger top-to-bottom squad next year. We shall see how everyone handles the privilege and burden of competing as the reigning champs, but there’s definitely no indication that anyone else in the Central will supplant the Chill as the heavy favorites to advance back to Championship Weekend next year.
Meanwhile, as Minnesota’s celebration gradually begins to fade, 23 other teams are absorbed in their own offseason planning, contemplating how they can be the ones to usurp the Wind Chill’s crown next August. As free agency shuffles rosters and schedules become clearer, we’ll be diving back into season preview mode before we know it.
But first, let’s have one last look at the thrilling 2024 journey that concluded in Salt Lake City a little over six weeks ago. Here are 24 more things to remember from the ’24 season.
1. The first season with the new pro frisbee
In some ways, this significant change received substantial commentary—I wrote an extended preseason Toss about the general reaction to the new Pro Frisbee—but one could also argue that we did not discuss this different dynamic enough throughout the entire season.
And there was one specific area in which I felt my coverage might have dropped the disc.
Leading into the season, I spent so much time thinking about how elite throwers would have to adapt from the Ultrastar to the Frisbee, but I think I failed to detail how it might have been an even bigger adjustment for downfield receivers. Particularly early in the season, we saw top targets regularly misreading deep shots, an understandable but largely overlooked reality after the switch.
As the season progressed, everyone became more comfortable. And by the end of the season, the completion rate for the entire league, 93.6 percent, was the highest ever recorded for a full campaign.
Furthermore, the new frisbee’s added stability definitely came in handy during the windiest Championship Weekend in the league’s dozen year history.
2. Minnesota Chill
Looking back, it’s still hard to believe how steady, solid, and together Minnesota looked at Championship Weekend. With an energized sideline and a powerful fan base in the stands, every single player stayed chill and ready for their individual moment.
It’s pretty interesting to note that only 25 percent of the Wind Chill’s active 20-man roster for the semis and finals would be considered “in their primes” from an age statement. Nine guys are younger than 25, and six others were in their 30s. Thomas Shope just turned 18 in April, but he still was making huge plays throughout the weekend, finishing with four blocks in two games while completing all six of his throws—no easy feat in the tempestuous conditions.
Then there’s Bryan Vohnoutka, who will be 35, almost double Shope’s age, in November. He was the oldest member of the active roster, but might have been the best physically conditioned athlete on all four teams at Championships Weekend. B-Von’s relentless and breathtaking versatility enabled the Wind Chill to be the most adaptable team, which ultimately led to a title.
It was a championship that few outside of the Twin Cities saw coming, but that unexpected glory can be even sweeter to celebrate.
3. The stunning preseason news regarding two former MVPs in Ryan Osgar and Jeff Babbitt
The surprising Jeff Babbitt situation was the biggest earthquake of the 2024 preseason, and Ryan Osgar’s casual departure was an additional aftershock that dramatically shifted the summer’s championship chase. With Babbitt leaving the Empire after eight sensational seasons and Osgar also deciding to step away from competition, the two-time reigning champs suddenly entered the season without the league’s last two MVPs.
It’s not like New York would fall off the radar completely, but losing Babbitt and Osgar absolutely impacted the Empire in various ways. The offense became a bit less explosive and reliable, and with key D-line cogs shifting to O-line, the team’s defense also undeniably took a step back.
4. The end of New York's league-record 31-game winning streak
In Week 1, the Empire edged Montreal 18-16 for the franchise’s 31st consecutive victory, setting a new UFA record. One week later, however, New York suddenly looked mortal in Atlanta.
As the 31-game winning streak vanished with a 20-15 interdivisional loss, the main story of the night was less about the Empire’s first regular season setback in 1,015 days; instead, it was more about the Atlanta Hustle showing their A-game against another top contender. The Hustle were only broken once, a meaningless Empire conversion with the outcome already decided late in the fourth. Furthermore, Atlanta’s athletes won most of the 50/50 battles in front of their raucous hometown crowd.
It’s easy to forget that the Hustle entered the game 0-1 after a lopsided Week 1 loss at Carolina, but Week 2 served as an illustration and reminder of Atlanta’s towering potential. It also raised some red flags for the Empire, who were clearly in the midst of a transition after losing several key players and one of their coaches.
The ensuing Tuesday Toss pontificated whether the dynasty was over, and all these months later, it does feel like that early May evening in Georgia was a significant turning point for the league’s most dominant organization. New York clearly remained in the mix as a contender, but their time as a complete and total juggernaut, at least for the moment, had come to a close.
5. The end of Detroit's seven-year winless streak
Exactly 50 days after New York lost in Atlanta, a much longer and more notorious streak finally, mercifully, came to an end. It was June 22, 2024, and after Terry Gaither’s clairvoyant morning message, the Detroit Mechanix indeed tasted victory for the first time since April 29, 2017.
Detroit’s first win in 2,611 days snapped a historic 81-game losing skid, in which the Mechanix endured five consecutive winless seasons. Astonishingly, the cathartic victory was a double-digit demolition over the visiting Pittsburgh Thunderbirds, as Detroit closed on an 8-1 onslaught to prevail 25-14.
Jake Felton, a 21-year-old rookie out of Davenport University, tossed nine assists to lead the way, and he shared his perspective on the victory a couple days later.
“Being a part of this accomplishment has been the pinnacle of my young ultimate career,” he said, “and I am unsure if anything will ever top it. I don’t think anything can.”
6. Jeff Babbitt's revenge and second straight MVP award
The intensity of pro ultimate is entirely unscripted, though there were several members of the New York Empire that felt like some ambitious screenwriter had seized control of the dramatic finish to their playoff game in Boston.
Those sentiments, though patently absurd, were also somewhat understandable after Babbitt athletically navigated a sea of bodies, acrobatically launching through the crowd for the leaping clap-catch and the game-sealing score that dramatically eliminated his old team from the championship chase. And all of this came after eight years in New York, a contentious falling out with team management, and a relatively last-second contract with Boston to compete in the 2024 season with the Glory.
Truth is often stranger than fiction, and Babbitt’s story, with this moment, in particular, did feel cinematic. Although Boston’s season came to an end at DC in the East Final, his performance throughout the year, punctuated by this heroic grab to officially end the Empire’s title reign, earned him his second consecutive UFA MVP.
7. Lukas Ambrose!
The only player in the league to earn First Team All-UFA and First Team All-Defense honors in 2024, Lukas Ambrose delivered wow moments on a weekly basis in his first season with the Seattle Cascades. He led the league in blocks for the second straight season, becoming the first in the league to finish north of 30 blocks since Babbitt in 2017.
If you haven’t already seen it, I strongly urge you to read Ian Toner’s enlightening feature on the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.
8. Carolina makes third Championship Weekend appearance in four seasons
The Carolina Flyers have never had a really bad season, but measured against the franchise’s high standards, their 2023 campaign was relatively mediocre. They finished 7-5, hardly horrible but still the worst season in the team’s history. In the aftermath, team leadership knew that a renewed commitment and focus was required.
One year later, the Flyers rediscovered their mojo quickly thanks to a pair of early wins over Atlanta, and even after a late-season stumble into second place, Carolina confidently battled its way back to Championship Weekend by winning the clutch moments against the Hustle in the playoffs.
Although the drops were devastating on the final Saturday night in Salt Lake City, the fact that the Flyers were back in the title game represented a huge rise from the team that went winless in the playoffs the year before. With their track record, depth, and experience in big games, Carolina reminded everyone that elite franchises don’t often have two subpar seasons in a row.
Mike DeNardis stepping aside as head coach in 2025 will be a change, but the Flyers shall still expect to be—at worst—one of the last eight teams standing at the end of next summer.
9. Balance and parity in the UFA
After watching New York go 15-0 in both 2022 and 2023, it was a little jarring to consider that no team made it beyond 6-0 in 2024. By the end of the season, all 24 teams had multiple losses, just the second time we’ve seen this level of parity in the history of the league. If only Dallas could have hung on to one of its late leads against Houston or Atlanta, then every franchise would have had at least one win too!
With apologies to the Legion, it remains true that the balance of power across the UFA landscape was more competitive than any other season in the history of the league. The high amounts of drama and unpredictability were a huge part of what made the 2024 season so exhilarating.
10. Tobe DeCraene’s Arrival Along with Several Other International Stars
The 20-year-old Belgian entered the UFA as a pretty highly-touted prospect, but no one could have envisioned Tobe Decraene making such a gargantuan impact immediately. In his first two games, at Boston and New York, Decraene tossed 10 assists, scored five goals, registered five blocks, and accumulated over 1,200 total yards.
Remarkably, he was just getting started.
For the season, Decraene dealt 52 assists, caught 17 goals, and tallied 18 blocks in 11 games, a dazzling rookie season to remember for the Montreal Royal.
Aside from Decraene, other Europeans also made immediate splashes in the UFA. Specifically, DC’s Elliot Bonnet and Seattle’s Aaron Wolf both made strong cases for Rookie of the Year consideration.
Bonnet, a 21-year-old from France, led the DC Breeze with 33 goals, becoming a key downfield cutter on the team’s excellent O-line. On the other side of the country, Wolf, a 25-year-old from Germany, evolved into an anchor handler on the surprising Seattle Cascades’ offense, producing 20 assists, 13 goals, and 11 blocks on over 400 completions.
Decraene, Bonnet, and Wolf all earned spots on the All-Rookie First Team, representing European ultimate as elite additions to the North American frisbee scene.
11. Atlanta’s second straight superb regular season
Back in the preseason, the Hustle’s daunting schedule included a hyper-challenging first five games, all against 2023 playoff teams and four of the five on the road, with the lone home date against the two-time reigning champs. After starting 1-2 with a couple tough losses at Carolina sandwiching the incredible performance against New York, Atlanta then delivered impressive interdivisional victories at Indianapolis and Colorado, part of what became a nine-game winning streak to finish at the top of the South Division.
It was the second straight 10-win season for the Hustle, and no other team in the league has more regular season victories than Atlanta over the past two years.
Sure, the headline can be seen as a reminder of the Hustle’s perpetual postseason disappointments, but that’s missing the point that we’re trying to get across here. Atlanta has been in the mix right near the top of the league two years in a row, and despite some tough luck in the playoffs, there’s little reason to believe that the Hustle won’t be back and more determined than ever in 2025.
12. New York’s late-season interdivisional dominance
The Empire were sitting at 6-3 heading into a pair of late-season interdivisional tests against Salt Lake and Minnesota. The season had not been a disaster by any means, but considering the franchise had been 61-4 in the previous 65 games, a 6-3 mark entering this relatively difficult stretch felt mildly precarious.
In the span of eight convincing quarters, however, the Empire reminded everyone that they could still compete at super high level. With a bye week in between, New York absolutely bombarded the Shred and Wind Chill by the combined score of 50-30, smacking Salt Lake by 11 before mashing Minnesota by nine on the road.
After these two routs, It was easy to envision the Empire peaking at the right time en route to a third consecutive championship, but that narrative took a substantial hit on the final weekend of the season.
13. DC dethroning New York
Indeed, the Breeze finally getting the better of the Empire was a storyline that deserves to sit by itself.
Entering the season, New York had won 11 of the previous 12 meetings against DC, including a pair of postseason victories. But the Breeze outplayed the Empire in a 16-14 victory at Carlini Field in early June, and then, in the last game of the regular season for both teams, DC prevailed “at” New York 24-20, in a game that was actually played in Hartford. In the finale, after falling behind 4-1 at the start, the Breeze dominated 23-16 the rest of the way in New York’s first “home” loss to DC since 2017.
The Breeze were not perfect in these two games, but they were pretty freaking close, averaging fewer than 10 turnovers per contest and converting 13 breaks in 16 chances across the pair of victories. Furthermore, DC only had seven turns in the regular season finale, the fewest for any team this season in an outdoor matchup against an opponent that made the playoffs.
While the Breeze did not get to face New York for a third time in the playoffs, DC’s regular season success over the Empire clearly shifted the balance of power in the East Division.
14. Colorado’s Fascinating Struggles
It’s overly harsh to say that it’s been all downhill for the Summit since their 2022 West Division Championship game victory, but the past couple seasons have been bizarrely underachieving experiences.
While they started the 2023 campaign with five consecutive wins, the season fizzled with five losses in their final eight games, including a surprising home loss to Los Angeles in the opening round of the playoffs. In 2024, a new-look offense was somewhat encouraging in the season opener against Seattle, but five losses in the next six games—plagued by inconsistent personnel and poor late-game execution—left Colorado spiraling at 2-5. The Summit rallied to finish 6-6, but still fell short of the postseason for the first time in the franchise’s three-year existence.
So what’s the deal with Colorado? Are my expectations for the Summit too high?
It’s easy—and overly simplistic—to say that the Summit probably would have made with playoffs last summer if Quinn Finer had been healthy all season. Other teams had key injuries too, and Finer, though he played quite well when available—did not solve all of Colorado’s issues.
Looking forward, Colorado will likely be considered among the top West Division contenders in 2025, but with Salt Lake, Seattle, and Oakland all also looking to improve upon their ’24 performances, the Summit will have plenty of company in their pursuit of another trip back to Championship Weekend.
15. The Phoenix Remain snakebitten versus East Division elite
Since May 1, 2018, Philadelphia has battled the Breeze and Empire on 27 different occasions, and the poor Phoenix have lost every single time.
In recent years, however, Philly has been remarkably competitive against DC and New York. The Phoenix have enjoyed fourth quarter leads and taken both powerhouse programs to overtime, only to, painfully and seemingly inevitably, always fall short.
This storyline replayed itself again in 2024.
First, on May 18 in DC, the Phoenix fell 24-23 in double OT, coughing up a 20-17 fourth quarter lead and failing to capitalize on a lengthy offensive possession on the game’s final point. One month later, on June 15, Philly held an 11-8 halftime lead on New York, but stumbled again down the stretch, losing 21-20.
Over the past four seasons, during which these three teams’ regular season records have been 20-28, 39-9, and 42-6, respectively, the Phoenix have endured nine different defeats by either one or two goals against DC and New York.
16. Indy's new offense
The AlleyCats had been among the top four in the league in completions per game in both 2022 and 2023, but 2024’s possession parade took it to a new level. Indianapolis averaged over 387 completions per contest this past season, an astonishing 93 more than the second highest average in the league, and far and away the most in league history.
How big of an outlier was this? Well, the gap between first and second was wider than the gap between second and 24th.
Indy’s prioritization of possession also led to the top completion rate in the league, but despite 95.8 percent of their passes connecting, the AlleyCats were just ninth in goals per game and missed the playoffs with a 6-6 record.
Avoiding turnovers is obviously an important aspect of winning ultimate, but as the AlleyCats’ season makes clear, there’s also an element of scoring efficiency that is undeniably valuable. The Wind Chill finished the season with one goal for every 10.4 completions. The Flyers scored every 12.4 completions. The Breeze every 14 completions.
As for Indy, it was an average of 19 completions per score, and with 17 turns a game and a middle-of-the-pack D-line, the AlleyCats’ offensive strategy was not a true recipe for success in 2024.
17. Montreal’s two killer collapses
The Royal offered some truly encouraging efforts throughout the 2024 season, but aside from Decraene’s emergence, the most memorable story for Montreal was unfortunately a pair of painful fourth quarter failures.
At 2-3 heading into a midseason matinee against DC on June 16, the Royal were looking to stay in the mix alongside the East’s clear top three. And with 4:23 left in the fourth, a .500 record appeared likely, as Montreal led 20-17. But a disastrous final four minutes gave the game away, and the Breeze skipped town with an improbable 21-20 triumph.
A few weeks later, it was de ja vu against Boston. Perhaps it was less of a collapse and more of just a couple key late-game mistakes—potato, potahto—but the Royal had the disc and a one goal lead with a few minutes left, then had the disc on the goal line with a chance to win as time expired, and then had the disc again with a one goal lead with less than two minutes remaining in overtime, only to endure another excruciating 21-20 setback on their home field.
Time will tell whether these are moments Montreal will learn and improve from, or if they are stuck in a similar spot as Philly, good enough to play the top teams respectably close, but not quite mentally and physically capable of emerging victorious against the division’s premier contenders.
18. Pittsburgh’s intriguingly high ceiling and depressingly low floor
Philly and Montreal, please step aside.
The Pittsburgh Thunderbirds were the most tantalizingly aggravating team in 2024. To their credit, they won at Minnesota and Chicago, who finished first and third in the Central Division. They also smacked Indy by eight one night after the Cats emotionally knocked off the Union at the buzzer.
But that’s where the happiness ended for the T-Birds, who also owned arguably the two worst losses of the season. On May 25, Pittsburgh scored just 13 goals in a 21-13 loss at previously winless Toronto. And then, on June 22, the Thunderbirds were absolutely bludgeoned by a Detroit squad that hadn’t won a game in over seven years, losing 25-14 in humiliating fashion. The Rush and Mechanix, by the way, both finished the season 1-11, with their only wins of the year coming against not-so-plucky Pittsburgh.
The Thunderbirds fought hard in the final three weeks, but the team’s exasperating inconsistency was certainly a factor as they also suffered three consecutive one-goal defeats to finish the season.
Despite plenty of noteworthy talent, the Thunderbirds’ 2024 journey certainly tempers expectations regarding Pittsburgh’s true potential to contend in the years ahead.
19. The uncertainty heading into the final weekend of the regular season
Beyond the fact that there was not necessarily an all-time great team, the late-season circumstances conspired to deliver an excellent final weekend of the regular season. First place and home field advantage in the East, South, and West remained up for grabs, while the Central Division also featured a win-and-you’re-in tilt between Indy and Madison.
It’s probably just a coincidence that the only team who had home field clinched before the final weekend was the eventual champions in the Twin Cities, but it’s definitely interesting to reflect upon that fact all these weeks later. Minnesota still had to ratchet up the intensity for its playoff game, but it did get to rest a bit on the final weekend of the season, while every other contender was scrapping for positioning and, in some cases, survival.
20. The Sneaky Wildest Game of the Playoffs
With all due respect to New York-Boston, Carolina-Atlanta, and Seattle-Salt Lake, there’s no doubt that Chicago and Madison’s double overtime roller coaster was absolutely the craziest game of the entire 2024 UFA playoffs. Truly, this game was too wild to forget, and even though neither the Union nor Radicals participated in the final four, it’s important to remember all the madness that manifested on that late-July Sunday at Breese Stevens Field.
No joke, if you’re looking for a wildly entertaining game to watch and haven’t already seen this one, buckle up for a crazy couple of hours.
The brief synopsis: Madison dominated early and it looked like the rout was on, but that would have been far too simple. Midway through the fourth quarter, Chicago had all the momentum and it felt like the Radicals were done, only for some insanely clutch blocks and a massive monsoon to wreak havoc and create roughly 24 critical turning points over the final 10 or so minutes of the contest. And in double OT, it all came down to Madison trusting its oft-wobbly O-line to calmly convert.
I still cannot believe what happened down the stretch in this game.
21. Atlanta and Salt Lake shocked in divisional finals on back-to-back nights
The headline could and perhaps should be focused more on Carolina and Seattle pulling off their respective one-goal victories to punch tickets to Championship Weekend, but even more than the exuberant joy from the Flyers and Cascades, I’ll distinctly remember the demoralized, defeated, and disbelieving body language from the Hustle and Shred, two teams that had huge ambitions and plenty of reasons to believe that their time was now. But in the immediate moments after they fell short, the angst and agony were visible for everyone to see.
For the Hustle, it was their second straight 10-win season down the drain after a heartbreaking one-goal loss at home. Carolina certainly felt worthy of the semifinal spot, but the flow of the summer suggested it would finally be Atlanta’s turn, a premonition that obviously, in retrospect, was mistaken.
Meanwhile, Salt Lake knew all season long that Championship Weekend would be held in Utah, and after a trip to the title game in 2023, the Shred had to be fantasizing about taking one step further in front of their home fans to create a storybook celebration. Too good to be true, apparently, as the Shred offense struggled mightily and the Cascades capitalized with a clutch performance to steal Salt Lake’s precious opportunity. As the stunned Shred hung their heads in disbelief, everyone with Seattle deliriously stormed the field.
It’s an unforgettable emotional juxtaposition, the yin and yang that make sports so powerful.
22. The annual All-UFA trio
For the sixth consecutive season—every year since 2018—San Diego’s Travis Dunn, along with New York’s Ben Jagt and Jack Williams, received All-UFA recognition. That’s a pretty remarkable feat, considering the consistency and excellence required to be amongst the league’s very best players for more than half a decade, without any blip.
For perspective, beyond Dunn, Jagt, and Williams, only four other individuals among this year’s 21 All-UFA selections have currently garnered the honor in each of the past two years. Jeff Babbitt is one of those four, and he’s been on the All-UFA ledger for each of the past five seasons.
23. The Salt Lake wind
One wonders how the Shred would have fared at Zions Bank Stadium in the turbulent conditions that greeted all four Championship Weekend participants on August 23. Most likely, they would have struggled to complete passes just like the other division champs, who were forced to drastically change their approach to ultimate in order to try and survive the hostile wind, which Salt Lake Coach Bryce Merrill said was the most vicious he’d ever seen at that venue.
With all due respect to the Wind Chill’s championship, the Salt Lake wind will forever share the top headline from the UFA’s 2024 Championship Weekend. It was positively mesmerizing to watch the DC Breeze, who were widely considered to have the best possession-based offense in the entire sport, suddenly struggle to complete simply passes. The Breeze are not gonna be too eager to return to Salt Lake City in the future, as they went 0-2 with 60 total turnovers in their two games at Zions Bank Stadium this season. In their other 12 games, they went 11-1, averaging 11.2 turns per game.
24. Four magical layouts in the wild West Division
There were so many spectacular scoring snags throughout the 2024 season, but when contemplating the top plays of the season, four particular layouts immediately come to mind. And it just so happens that all four occurred in the West Division.
Chronologically, let’s start with Jonah Malenfant’s absolutely outrageous soaring score to tie the game late in the fourth quarter against Colorado on June 7. Maybe the most astonishing thing about this play, aside from the fact that it helped the Oakland Spiders pull off a huge home win, was that it was Malenfant’s first career goal in the UFA and it also turned out to be his only goal of the season. Without a doubt, it’s the greatest goal by someone who’s only scored once in the history of the league.
With apologies to Colorado, the next layout that popped in my mind was Tommy Li’s thrilling, sprinting go-ahead grab with just five seconds left on June 29. Gutty throw by Seattle’s Spencer Lofink, and the veteran Li, as he usually does, came through in the clutch.
(Who knows? If Malenfant and Li did not make these diabolical catches, perhaps the Summit would have made the playoffs. Alas.)
Moving on, time to give Colorado a little love. On July 6, in the fourth quarter of a close game against the AlleyCats, Alex Atkins uncorked a booming backhand that floated just enough for Atkin Arnstein to deliver the superhero score. The crowd went nuts, and the incredible play by Arnstein—who, by the way, has a name that rhymes with “barn sign,” and I regrettably got it wrong in the moment; that’s my bad, Atkin—helped the Summit put the win away.
Lastly, you can’t think of incredible layouts from the 2024 journey without mentioning Marc Muñoz’s full-extension highlight in the Championship Weekend semifinals against Carolina. A super cool moment for the ‘Scades all-time leader in games played, and the craziest part of that sentence is realizing that Muñoz has played 60 UFA games and is just 24 years old.
Surely, all 24 teams had their own magical moments throughout the season, but as the lone author of this article, these are four remarkable memories that still shine bright in my mind throughout the offseason. This quartet of brilliance, amongst all these other storylines, situations, and nostalgia, are just some of the things I’ll remember most about the 2024 season.
