Photo by Trent Erickson
Written By: Ryan Baker, Journalist
It’s appropriate that the statement of the Central Division title being in sight becomes reality for the Minnesota Wind Chill after a 22-17, home win against the Madison Radicals on June 22.
The atmosphere was electric for the second round of the border battle between the division rivals. Sea Foam Stadium saw a dry climate with a slight wind, and the home fans saw a sweep of Madison for the second year in a row.
“It's nice to take care of business at home. There’s a lot of things that we got to clean up. I'm happy with the performance. Guys stepped up today and played big, stepping into new roles. Obviously, Will [Brandt] and Gordon [Larson], that connection on offense tonight without Quinn [Snider] and [Matt] Rehder was pretty fantastic,” said Feldman.
That was one thing that people were keeping an eye for this matchup, the absence of three of Minnesota’s top players. Offensive juggernauts in Rehder and Snider provide the Wind Chill with the ability to stretch the field and to win one-on-one jumping battles. Along with those two guys, defensive mastermind Brandon Matis was gone, however, no one skipped a beat.
Granted, Minnesota’s deep shots were not there, going without a huck completion in the first half. Ultimately, coming out with a line of 2/11 on huck attempts throughout the game. Despite the long game not being effective, Brandt led an offense that made smart decisions and ran the tempo all game with eight assists, two blocks, and 462 total yards.
“Madison likes to do some doubles, there’s always an open player. I feel like I had some good vision on those open players and was able to break the mark. It felt good out there. I think we moved the disc fast in this wind, and we used the full width of the field that helped us with their poaching scheme,” said Brandt.
Brandt hit five different players for scores, giving Colin Berry all three goals of his goals for the night and Larson two of his three. Larson and Berry also combined for more than 600 total yards. The offense was able to take advantage of some miscues from the Radicals offense, and generate the pressure on defense.
“We were moving the disc pretty well. Our shots started connecting, and it was just a matter of time. We had some weird drops on hucks that were close or just a hair too far. It's very possible we see these guys again. They're playing well, and can beat any team in the division right now. It’s a good building block for us to continue to grow,” said Feldman.
The connection was seen in the second half as Minnesota was up just one, but quickly pulled away after outscoring Madison in the back half of the third quarter, 6-2. Dylan DeClerk and Cameron Lacy both walked out with three blocks apiece, making up for nearly half of Minnesota’s 14 blocks. Another highlight was Minnesota’s redzone conversion rate that sat at 95% on the night, missing just one of their opportunities.
The Wind Chill are sitting pretty on top of the Central Division with a record of 6-1. The two teams within striking distance are the Radicals, who they have the tiebreaker over, and the Chicago Union, who they beat earlier in the season. One more matchup with the Union this upcoming weekend still awaits, but the path to the division title just became that much easier.
“That win was huge. Now, we got the Central Division in our fate. It’s on us to go and keep winning. We did what we needed to do,” said Brandt.
