Written By: Ryan Baker, Journalist

It’s going to be a battle. This Saturday, June 15, the Minnesota Wind Chill host their second home game of the season against the out-of-division opponent, Colorado Summit.

Outside factors may come into play in Minnesota’s second Super Series matchup of the year. With some rain and wind in the forecast, look for this matchup to be a scrappy one. It features two teams that let up the fewest scores in the league, with the Wind Chill letting up the least, and the Summit being at fifth-least. Both teams also sit under 37 huck attempts on the year, so this one is going to be about possessions.

On paper, Minnesota looks to have a slight advantage. Colorado has been a streaky team all season, sitting at 2-3 on the year. The Wind Chill will be playing in their home stadium, along with playing Colorado in the second game of their back-to-back weekend. The Summit will be traveling from Madison after playing the Radicals just the night prior.

“Mental advantages are important, but we simply can’t think like that. They won on the second day of a back-to-back against a top team in this league, just last week. Plus, this season has showed that any team can win any given game. Colorado’s legs may be a little less fresh than they otherwise would be, but they are a highly skilled team who needs to keep winning to stay in the playoff race. They’ll be ready to fight regardless, and we need to respect that. We’ve got to dial up the effort, intensity, and focus from the opening pull,” said Brandon Matis.

The Wind Chill also have something to prove in their second home game of the year. Their first one brought on their only loss thus far of the season, a few weeks back, against the Pittsburgh Thunderbirds. It was a rough game, where Minnesota failed to find their grove quick enough. They want to be able to take back their home field to give their fans what they deserve.

“Our group will be ready to go. We’re prepared for some interesting conditions. Rain, wind, we might have it all Saturday night, but we're going to be ready to fight. There's no shortage of motivation after stumbling out of the gates at Sea Foam. I think we have something we want to prove to our fans and ourselves about how we should be performing and playing at home,” said head coach Ben Feldman.

Last year, the Wind Chill played the Summit later in the season and got handed a 10-point loss. That was a game where Minnesota had 25 turnovers and only converted two of their 17 break opportunities. Despite, the somewhat recent matchup, the key is adaptability. Whichever team can adjust to their opponent quicker will likely come out on top.

“I think as a team, we really excel in our planning and preparation for specific opponents. We find optimal matchups and create really good defensive game plans to mitigate our opponents’ strengths. You don’t get that luxury so much when it’s a team you rarely face. We have to rely a little bit more on film over experience, and we have to be adaptable in-game. These are kind of like boxing matches in a way—we’ll each trade some punches to try to feel each other out and make adjustments along the way as we become more familiar with that the other team is trying to do,” said Matis.

The Wind Chill will certainly need to make changes throughout the game, especially with some of their key players being absent for this marquee matchup. Quinn Snider, Sam Berglund, Bret Bergmeier, and Gordon Larson, among others will not be suiting up. However, they do get back Noah Hanson who has five blocks through four games this year. Even with top guys out, Feldman expects his team to be in the thick of it all game long, but it won’t be all sunshine and rainbows.

“As much as we're studying them, we're also internally focusing on ourselves. How we need to be better, and what we need to improve on from week to week. We expect to scrap. It's going to be a battle. Expect it to be a close game. It's a good opponent. They're really talented. They got a lot of good players,” said Feldman.

Taking their first home win of the season would be a huge momentum boost, especially after they went into Indianapolis and took down the AlleyCats. It would set them up incredibly well for the second half of the season with their impending tough matchups. Not only that, but it would show the rest of the league that the Central Division is no pushover.

“It would be huge for us. The opportunity to play someone outside of the division doesn’t come along every week, so we need to capitalize,” said Colin Berry.

To watch the full free game on YouTube, as a part of the Super Series collection, this Saturday night at 6 p.m. CDT: Click here!

To get tickets to the second home game of the Minnesota Wind Chill, click here!