August 27, 2024
By Evan Lepler
Tuesday Toss: Championship Weekend | Part 1
1. Wild Weather and Fascinating Frisbee
Aside from the Wind Chill accomplishing the unexpected, the lasting theme of Salt Lake City’s Championship Weekend will certainly be the very windy weather. On both days, gusts approached 50 miles per hour, creating an environment that the Ultimate Frisbee Association had never previously had for its semis and finals.
The games became difficult and grueling affairs, filled with long points and unfair flight paths. Lines that had been steady and cohesive all season long were suddenly shifted to try and handle the daunting conditions. Upwind scores, when they occurred, felt like they counted double.
Throughout it all, we were fortunate to get three games that were all riveting from start to finish in their own way. The DC Breeze arguably had the best offense in the league all season, but the extreme wind certainly cramped their style. In a perverse and often baffling way, it was fascinating to watch them struggle.
Everyone also understood that gusty elements created tremendous volatility in terms of momentum. In every game, we witnessed major runs and drastic shifts. Obviously, all three games were decided by four or fewer, and no team ever led or trailed by more than six all weekend, the first time that’s happened in the last six Championship Weekends.
2. D-line Josh Klane
In the opening quarter against the DC Breeze, Minnesota’s Josh Klane tallied three assists and four throwaways. It was just the beginning of his very busy weekend.
The 32-year-old handling veteran only played one D-point all season long prior to Championship Weekend, but with the Wind Chill looking for an upwind throwing threat on defense, Klane crossed over and played 10 D-points on Friday and Saturday. Asked to launch a bunch of long-range missiles, he ended the weekend with 10 turnovers, but he also tallied eighth assists and completed 36 passes, including six hucks, while serving as a vital orchestrator of the Minnesota counter-attack.
“I always say to the team, I’m a D-liner at heart, I’m a cutter at heart,” said Klane, after Friday’s semifinal victory. “This might be the first time I’ve played consistently D in my entire career, going back to high school. It was definitely fun. I felt like the pressure was off. I just got to let loose a little bit. Maybe a little too loose.”
After Saturday’s victory, Klane was asked if he felt the windy conditions in Salt Lake City were made for him.
“I think they’re made for us as a team,” he replied. “It’s definitely not me, we’ve got a lot of guys that embraced this kind of wind and excelled.”
3. A Model Franchise
Even before Saturday’s title game, UFA Commissioner Tim DeByl declared that the Minnesota Wind Chill were a model franchise, commenting on how they’ve built both a winning team and a superb fan base in the Twin Cities. Everyone involved understands that the team would probably not be flourishing if not for the efforts of Ben Feldman, who wears many hats, including owner, GM, and coach for the Chill.
“Ben’s probably the best GM in the league,” said Minnesota Captain Brandon Matis. “He doesn’t get enough credit for the work he puts into this franchise. We really wouldn’t be here without him. He took over in 2017, and it’s just been up and up and up from there. The only way we win a championship is with that man at the helm.”
Feldman is also quick to point out that, while he’s often the energy and mindset coach leading the defense, many of the team’s offensive tactics, strategies, and adjustments are orchestrated by Assistant Coach Max Longchamp.
“When it comes to data analytics and throwing charts and all that, film clips and preparation and planning, [Max] is a coder and data genie by regular trade in his full time job, and he brings a very detailed approach to preparation,” said Feldman, during a Monday sports radio appearance on KFAN in Minneapolis.”
Several members of the Wind Chill also lauded Carlos Lopez, another Minnesota assistant, for his contributions from the sidelines.
4. DC's Regrets
It was a mighty disappointing end to the season for the DC Breeze. They went 10-2 in the regular season and beat New York twice. They took care of business against Boston in the East final to earn their first Championship Weekend trip. But despite entering the final four as the favorite, the Breeze never led in their semifinal, scoring just 13 goals in a 16-13 loss amidst the wild wind.
After the game, DC Coach Lauren Boyle was clearly disappointed, saying how the loss definitely stung a great deal because of how much she and her team cared. But she also said that the bruises would heal and that the Breeze would return stronger in 2025.
It’s easy to second-guess the Breeze’s choice to maintain its possession-oriented strategy, but I look at the team’s poor 50 percent red zone conversion rate, 8-for-16, as a primary factor in the squad’s semifinal shortcomings. That’s eight red zone turns, more than any other game in Breeze history since these numbers were first tracked in 2021.
There will be plenty of analysis about DC’s failure to survive the semifinals, but it’s important to remember that they were tied heading into the fourth, at which point throwaways from their top players—two from Thomas Edmonds, two others from Rowan McDonnell, just to name some—hurt their cause, and the Wind Chill also benefitted from a fortuitous up/down call that led to one of the pivotal upwind scores.
Overall, it was definitely a tough result to digest for the Breeze, but the way-too-early next year odds would still probably establish DC as the league-wide favorite for 2025.
5. Carolina's Deep Game
They led the UFA in hucks during the season, then only attempted four deep shots in the South final against Atlanta, memorably utilizing small-ball to possess the disc for the final four minutes of the game and demoralize the Hustle in their thrilling one-goal victory.
In Friday’s semifinal, however, the Flyers attempted 25 hucks, the most recorded in a 48-minute game since tracking began in 2021. They completed 17 for a respectable 68 percent success rate, with Henry Fisher leading the way in his four-assist, three-goal, three-block performance.
“We arrived [on Thursday], came to this field, saw how windy it was, practiced hucking, and we were like, it’s gonna be a bit of a slog, and we’re gonna have to have our big athletic guys make plays,” said Fisher, after Friday’s game. “Historically, we have been small-ball, but we have a lot of really big athletic guys who stepped up this year, and that’s what we’re so versatile.
Allan Laviolette went 4-for-4 on his hucks against Seattle, but the deep game did not click nearly as well on Saturday against Minnesota, when Laviolette went 1-for-4 and the Flyers went 7-for-20 as a team in their one-goal loss to the Wind Chill in the final.
6. Cascades Culture
Asked what it was like to be a part of the Seattle Cascades in 2024, Lukas Ambrose had some strong words.
“It was incredibly fun,” he said. “This team is infectious. The energy, the buy-in, the talent, Seattle’s got a great ultimate environment that, coming from LA, I’d never seen before.”
The ‘Scades earned plenty of respect by the way they battled against Carolina on Friday night, though Seattle was not looking for any moral victory or silver lining after their 20-16 loss to the Flyers.
Aggravating,” said Ambrose, when asked what the night was like. “They just came out better than us. We couldn’t match their energy. Our game plan relied a little heavily on the wind, and when they started beating us deep, I think it flustered us a little bit.”
Ambrose scored four goals, recorded three blocks, and seemingly was in the process of taking over the game midway through the fourth quarter as the Cascades clawed back. But one late throwaway stifled the growing momentum and surged the Flyers into a comfortable position.
“It was just a matter of executing,” he said. “Can’t throw those two away that I threw away. That was tough.”
In contrast to the Flyers 17-for-25, the Cascades completed just five hucks in 12 tries. Even more costly, Seattle converted just three of their 13 break chances.
Time will tell whether the 2024 Cascades—who went from 4-8 in 2023 to 11-4 this season—are a flash in the pan or a franchise that will have staying power as a contender in the years ahead, but they certainly played an entertaining brand of ultimate, full of heart and passion, and picked up a bunch of fans along the way.
7. A Salute to Salt Lake City
Despite the powerful wind and the absence of the Shred from the semifinals, Salt Lake’s Zion’s Bank Stadium still proved to be a fantastic spot for Championship Weekend. Both nights, fans brought the energy and created an awesome environment for the biggest games of the season.
On Saturday night, after the Wind Chill took the title, so many players from all four teams commented about the crowd noise, the atmosphere, and the facility. And, aside from the stadium’s technological snafu that delayed the start of Saturday’s final because of an audio outage, I would wholeheartedly concur with the plethora of praise that Salt Lake has received for its Championship Weekend performance.
My next trip to Utah can’t come soon enough.
The Hammer
Wow, that really is another UFA season—my 10th broadcasting for the league!— in the books. Four months that went by pretty darn fast.
It’s also my ninth year writing the Tuesday Toss every week. The job remains a labor of love, and every day, but especially after Championship Weekend, I feel an immense sense of gratitude and appreciation for the opportunity to be a part of this world. It’s truly a privilege and a passion, and I’ll be counting down the days until next April and the start of the 2025 season.
Obviously, I would not have this opportunity if not for the owners, coaches, and players. So many dedicated individuals, all working to help push our sport forward while generously opening up their lives to my queries on a weekly basis.
On the broadcasting front, I relished the chance to work with Ian Toner and Bryan Jones for all three games at Championship Weekend. These guys are really smart and thoughtful ultimate minds who are also excellent on tv, so it was a joy to have them by my side in Salt Lake City.
Furthermore, I know how fortunate I am to travel around the continent narrating many of the best frisbee matchups in the world, and it’s always special to interact with fans of the sport who make a point to say hello.
Thank you so much for reading, and congrats to the 2024 Minnesota Wind Chill, a surprising but worthy champion!
