Photo by Daniel Cohen

Written By: Ryan Baker, Journalist

All offseason, during the season, teams train and work together to be able to bring home the title of “UFA Champions.” That pinnacle was hit by your very own 2024 UFA Champions, The Minnesota Wind Chill.

“It's pretty surreal, finally becoming champions. I’m still kind of speechless. It just feels pretty humbling. To be honest, working so hard for so many facets over the last decade as a player, owner, and GM; it's a lot of time and effort, and feels really good, not just for myself, but for everyone involved to have that payoff and accumulate with this massive achievement,” said head coach Ben Feldman.

So, how did it all start? What was the journey that the Wind Chill went on to bring home the top honors in the league?

Well, it started with two wins to open the season over the Pittsburgh Thunderbirds and Chicago Union. From there, they had a small speed bump when they suffered a loss in their home opener against the Thunderbirds. After that, the run started. The run of six straight wins, and the run that clinched their division title.

It all started in the home of the Madison Radicals in a game that no one could have predicted. A weather delay put about a 90-minute hiatus in the middle of the game that was a close one. However, after play resumed, Minnesota took control, eventually winning the game by four behind a few huge skies by Quinn Snider. A three-point win in Indianapolis against the AlleyCats followed suit.

“There’s no real recipe. It’s tough being a travel player. You miss out on a lot of time with your teammates and important reps because of it. Therefore, you just have to be adaptable to every situation, try and read off your teammates in real time as best you can. If the stat line isn’t there at the end of a game it’s easy to put pressure on myself as that is the easiest form of measurement, but if we get the win that’s what’s more important to me over anything else,” said Snider.

The following four games consisted of a three-point win in a cross-divisional game against the Colorado Summit, another win against the Radicals, a one-point win against the Union, and an absolute massacre of the Detroit Mechanix. That one-point win against Chicago was sealed by a layout block by Noah Hanson with seconds to spare during a charge by the Union offense.

The next two weeks coming off of the six-game run were not ideal. A five-point loss to the Union and a nine-point loss to the New York Empire in the Minnesota Vikings’ practice facility put a sour taste in the mouths of Minnesota. Despite the losses, lessons were learned and strategies were tweaked to become an even stronger team. That showed the remainder of the season.

Another blowout of Detroit concluded the regular season and set Minnesota up to host the Central Division championship game against the Radicals. Beating a team three times in a given year is hard enough to do, but Minnesota made it look easy by pressuring the young Radicals team that led to a nine-point win.

This is where the fun begins. Advancing to their second straight championship weekend, the Wind Chill were looking to get some revenge after losing last second to the Salt Lake Shred in 2023. Traveling to Salt Lake City, they were en route to match up with one of the best offenses in the league in the D.C. Breeze. Winds were brutal. 25MPH+ consistent winds switching direction constantly provided all four teams at championship weekend with struggles. The exception is that Minnesota is used to that kind of wind. Infamously, their home stadium, Sea Foam, produces some of the hardest winds to play in across the league.

“We know what windy means. Home field Sea Foam is always a challenge like that, so we've been prepping for this every home game. Strategy-wise, we knew we wanted short field turns from them, and long turns from us. Executing on that was easy because we trusted each other and embraced the conditions. At some points I felt like a punter with the way our strategies were implemented, which isn't a role I'm necessarily used to, but it's what we needed and everyone did what was needed to win,” said Tristan Van de Moortele.

The experience helped as the Wind Chill were up 10-6 at half. A shaky third quarter put the Breeze back into the game, but a four-point run to open the fourth quarter gave Minnesota one of the two championship game appearances.

“You get to play loose and free when you’re playing with house money. Being the perceived underdogs, we could do just that. I think that’s a better mental state for us to operate in. All year, we’ve shown that when we don’t let the expectations weigh our emotions down and we just go out and play the systems and energy that’s representative of Wind Chill Ultimate, we dominate games,” said Brandon Matis.

Then, it was time for the championship game against the Carolina Flyers. Right out of the gate, you could tell Carolina was off their game. They had four straight drops that resulted in four straight breaks for Minnesota. Even with the miscues, Carolina pushed themselves back into game, but it wasn’t enough as Minnesota walked away with a one-point win to secure the title.

“D.C. and Carolina are great teams, but I felt like our season schedule set us up to play good teams in those type of conditions. While I do think wind was a factor in both our games this weekend, we showcased a couple things that are hard to beat: One, a defense that plays hard as a unit, and finishes plays where given the opportunity. Two, a truly deep roster. One which shares and highlights each of our individual strengths,” said Matthew Rehder.

The pressure was put a lot on the coaches during championship weekend with line-calling and their gameplan. You saw offensive points contain more athletic players to be able to snag a huck in a downfield wind, with a few more defenders than normal anticipating an eventual turn. Meanwhile, defensive points saw more handler-heavy sets, because of the anticipated turn by the offense.

“It was some of the most chaotic line calling I've had to do in my history as a coach. With the wind on and off and the ebbs and flows of the game. We were improvising a little bit based on who was fresh and who could go, but we didn't want to leave any talent on the sideline. We thought they were ready to go, so the team was really good and flexible,” said Feldman.

The culmination of blood, sweat, and tears finally was put together to give Minnesota the title. Before we get into how they got there, statistically as a team and individually, here are some comments from various players on what winning the title meant to them:

“To bring home this title is validation, not only of how hard everyone works and the years but also the talent of this squad. I think the “gap” between teams is a lot closer than people think,” said Bryan Vohnoutka.

“With this being my first year on Minnesota and full season in the UFA, I can say that being a part of this team was special. Obviously, we won the title and that’s something I will cherish forever but there was so much more to appreciate from this season. Everyone was very welcoming from day one of tryouts and I instantly knew that this team was going to be something that I wanted to be a part of,” said Anthony Jirele.

“It’s special, and it’s personal. Every game my coaches and teammates would trust me more and more, and for that to culminate into playing a big role in the championship game shows how much trust we developed over the whole season,” said Gordon Larson.

Now, let’s look at the season as a whole. The Wind Chill secured their second straight Central Division title, becoming back-to-back division champions for the first time in team history. Finishing the season with a 9-3 record in the regular season, and an overall 12-3 record including playoffs gave Minnesota the most wins they’ve had in an overall season in franchise history.

Statically, this team was one of the most consistent we’ve seen from all aspects of the game. Note: the team statistics are slightly skewed, because it includes playoff games while other teams do not have as many games.

Despite the skewedness, the Wind Chill posted their second-most goals as a team with 306 since we resumed play after Covid. Conversely, they produced the most blocks in a season for them since 2018 with 176. That mark was only behind the Radicals in the 2024 season. Minnesota was able to finish third in the league in break percentage, average 20.4 goals per game, all while only allowing 16.87 goals per game.

Individually, some guys had their career years. Van De Moortele, the championship weekend MVP Will Brandt, Gordon Larson, Bryan Vohnoutka, and Jordan Taylor are to just name a few. Van De Moortele posted 34 assists, nine goals, eleven blocks, and 3407 total yards, which were career-highs in every category besides goals. Brandt only played in ten games this season but saw career-highs in assists, total yards, and blocks. The totals looked like 34 assists, seven blocks and 3990 total yards.

As for Larson, Vohnoutka, and Taylor, Larson went ballistic this year. In just his third year, Larson played 12 games that included 27 assists, 28 goals, four blocks, and 4645 total yards, without dropping a single disc. Vohnoutka saw one of his most efficient years, playing in 14 games, posting 23 assists, 31 goals, and eight blocks without a single drop. Finally, Taylor saw one of his best years in every category. 12 assists, 27 goals, and 3037 total yards were all new personal marks set by Taylor.

“I honestly think that the young crew of guys were ice cold all championship weekend. We weren’t feeling the pressure and just playing our game. The veteran guys have trusted us all year to play big roles, and that’s what made us so strong. They also showed the gutsiness to make incredible plays and decisions in the biggest moments that I don’t think I would’ve had the courage to do,” said Larson.

All of this doesn’t even mention the success of cornerstone guys like Brandon Matis, Quinn Snider, Bret Bergmeier, Matthew Rehder, Josh Klane, Dylan DeClerk, Cameron Lacy, with rookies Thomas Shope and Anthony Jirele. This team was successful all-around, proving to be one of the deepest teams in the league.

Klane led the team with 39 assists and total yards with 5012, and was a crucial piece to the success at championship weekend. Matis (15 blocks) and Rehder (14 blocks) led the team in blocks, while Lacy put himself in the argument for best pulls in the league and added 12 blocks on the year. DeClerk and Bergmeier were scoring machines on the defensive end. Both had nine blocks, with Bergmeier totaling 30 scores (goals + assists) on the year and DeClerk adding 33 scores to that.

Snider was fourth on the team in goals with 24 despite only playing in eight games in 2024. Even the rookies were getting in on the action. Shope had an unreal championship weekend, posting six of his twelve blocks in the three playoff games. Jirele, also, found success at the end of the season, grabbing a block in each of his last six games, which included a three-game span where he had seven goals.

Overall, this is probably one of the most put together teams in league history. From top to bottom, each player did their job and stepped up when necessary. All of this, obviously, resulted in a title run. The Minnesota Wind Chill are here now, and are here to stay for the foreseeable future.

“I think seeing the emotion and elation on Ben and Max’s faces, and then the vets. That meant everything to me. That right there makes all the travel and time worth it. Seeing my coaches and teammates achieve their goal - our shared goal, altogether, as a family,” said Snider.

The only way I see fit in concluding the season recap for your 2024 UFA Champions was to ask one of their players who has been there since the commencement of the franchise to describe the team in three words this season.

That player was Brandon Matis and his three words were: ““Resilience. Embracement. Togetherness.”