Ryan Baker
Despite the 13-16 loss this past weekend, the Minnesota Wind Chill, the Madison Radicals seem to be on an upward trend.
This is said because in their previous game against the Indianapolis AlleyCats, they came back from down three to win the game, their biggest comeback of the year. That may not seem like a huge deal, but digging themselves out of giving up a run has been the kryptonite for this squad.
Then, you have this game, where they are historically bad in Sea Foam Stadium, and played confidently the entire game. They still gave up a third-quarter run, which was their downfall, but they kept clawing and scratching for the remainder of the game.
“I feel good about it. Obviously, we’re frustrated because we think we could have won that game. I think it’s good we’re frustrated. The last two times we played Chicago and Minnesota, we felt outmatched. We came into this game, knew it was going to be a bit ugly, and that didn’t fluster us,” said Eric Sjostrom.
It was a rough start for both teams after the first quarter saw just four total goals and a tie game. Madison’s coaching staff, led by Jacob Spiro, opted to throw a zone defense against the Wind Chill that did incredibly well in the first half. We saw players like David Nester, Shane Otis, and Alex Gravatt play on the zone defense line, guys we don’t typically see on the field.
“It’s always windy here. We were running with a whole bunch of guys who hadn’t played a lot on our man-to-man line. So, we put together a zone line and ran it out there,” said Spiro.
The second quarter is where we saw Madison take a surprising lead. The wind was heavy and gusty at times, wreaking havoc on both teams. After a drop in the endzone by Minnesota, Otis ripped a beautiful backhand huck to Anthony Gutowsky to go up by two. Then, with seven seconds left in the half, Kainoa Chun-Moy was able to punch in a goal to Gabe Vordick to take that one-point lead into the half.
The third quarter was a bit tougher on the Radicals. Downwind hucks were not connecting, and Madison was trigger-happy at times. A muffled attempt to stop a pull by Minnesota resulted in a high-stall count turn that Minnesota quickly cashed in on.
Also, the Wind Chill started to figure out the zone defense in the second half. The wind started to die down a bit, and it made it hard for Madison for their zone defense to be effective. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Radicals were down by two.
In the fourth quarter, Madison made a small push, but a costly turnover gave Minnesota a three-point lead with just under ten minutes remaining. The ground was too much to make up from there as the two teams traded blows until a downwind huck was swatted by Minnesota, giving them their three-point lead back.
“We were missing a few guys, and it’ll be good to have them back. But, in general, I think we showed that when we play the game with joy and intensity, we can play with anybody. We just have to be able to do that when the game gets closer,” said Spiro.
The biggest takeaway was that during that third-quarter run, the Radicals didn’t give up. They didn’t put their heads down. They didn’t play timidly. They were still aggressive, and played with high intensity. That’s something we haven’t seen in quite some time.
The duo of Chun-Moy and Sjostrom in the backfield has been paying dividends. There was some doubt whether or not those two could be as productive as they have been against a team like Minnesota, but they both had a huge impact quarterbacking the offense. Neither had played at Sea Foam before, but they are ready for the rematch in the playoffs in a couple of weeks.
“I’m excited for it. Personally, being my first game playing here, I heard multiple times how windy it was. We just got a whole game’s worth of reps in it. We’re going to come back here, and we’re going to do what we know we can do,” said Sjostrom.
Luke Marks continued his masterclass year on the defensive end, adding two more blocks, putting him at third in the league with 19. Also, we saw Gutowsky break his own franchise record in goals after scoring four times on Saturday night.
Note: In the preview of this game, it was stated that Gutowksy needed 54 total goals to break his own record. However, 54 was his total from the regular season and playoffs. He had 51 regular season goals in 2024 and now sits at 54 goals with one regular-season game remaining.
“It feels good. It’s my record, so I’m just beating myself. It’s exciting and something I am looking at, but it isn’t my focus,” said Gutowsky. “The win is the main focus, and if we don’t get the win, then what does my scoring truly mean?”
Now, the location is set for the playoff rematch between the Wind Chill and Radicals. After Madison wraps up the season against Chicago this upcoming weekend, they will have to travel back to Sea Foam for the first round of the playoffs.
“We’re ready. We have some small execution areas to fix. This was, by far, one of our better and complete games that we have played. If we can have a good game against Chicago and come out against Minnesota in a couple of weeks, I think we will have a really good shot at winning that one,” said Gutowsky.
The Radicals take on the undefeated Chicago Union this Sunday at 5:00 before heading on the road for the playoffs!
