Photo by Rich Moll
Written By: Ryan Baker, Journalist
We have reached the midseason point for the Minnesota Wind Chill, and it’s time to take a look at where the reigning champs are heading into the back half of the 2025 season.
They stand at 5-1, and second in the Central Division behind the undefeated Chicago Union. The Union are also the team that is responsible for the one blemish on Minnesota’s record. The Wind Chill’s five wins have come against Pittsburgh twice, Indianapolis, Madison, and Atlanta. All of those games were confidently won by Minnesota, except for the close two-point win over the Hustle.
The season started with a dominant 32-17 win over the AlleyCats, followed by a loss against Chicago in the home opener. Then came a 31-14 win over Pittsburgh, an Atlanta win, another five-point win over Pittsburgh, and finally, a six-point win over Madison.
Two big headlines that have hit the Wind Chill amidst the first half of 2025 were Dylan DeClerck finally getting the franchise lead in blocks and the team taking their first-ever win in TCO Stadium against the, at the time undefeated, Hustle.
Looking more in-depth at some of the numbers for Minnesota through the first half of the season tells more of a story. Noting that some of these stats are hard to gauge, considering some teams have played just four games and some teams have played eight games.
Photo by Rich Moll
Regardless, head coach Ben Feldman’s defense is near the top of the league in nearly every defensive category. They have given up the third-least goals in the league, only behind Colorado and Chicago. They are eighth in the league in blocks, but first in the league in break conversion rate by a wide margin. Minnesota sits at converting their breaks 46.15 percent of the time, while the Union is second at 39.33 percent. Finally, they are third in the league in D-line conversion rate.
On the other side of the disc, we have seen struggles for the Wind Chill. They have had problems establishing offensive flow right away in games. Yes, they are 5-1, but the offense needs to improve as they play better teams.
“We want to be improving our efficiency with the frisbee. That is the focus. I feel really good about our defensive structure, the personnel we have, and the talent across the board,” said Feldman. “It's just going back and figuring out some systematic stuff. How do we improve with the frisbee?”
They have the sixth-worst completion percentage and huck completion percentage in the league and are middle of the pack in hold percentage and O-line conversion rate. However, they do have the second-best red zone conversion in the entire league, and that is a big credit to Will Brandt, who seems to get whatever he wants when he gets closer to that front cone.
“We haven't put together a good, complete four-quarter performance. I'm not counting blowout wins. I want it when it's tight, and that’s when we need to maintain our separation. We've given some back, so that's primarily our focus. We'll make some adjustments, but still running our systems. If we get that all in place, Max [Longchamp], Carlos [Lopez], and [Ben] Feldman will put us in a good spot. It'll be up to us to execute,” said Bryan Vohnoutka.
A big thing to keep in mind with the struggles of the Minnesota offense is the lack of consistency. They will be getting back their college guys, and veterans like Matthew Rehder and Quinn Snider have not played in many games this year.
“We need to keep grinding on defense. We're trying to move some pieces around and trying some different sets. I think roster and consistency has been a little hard with our downfield cutters, like not having [Matthew] Rehder and Quinn [Snider] every week,” said Brandt.
Despite some of the flaws, there have been two notable changes that we have seen from the offense that have paid dividends. Paul Krenik has switched over to O-line, and the chemistry between him and long-time friend and teammate Brandt is unbelievable. The other one is seeing Gordon Larson in the handler space a lot more this year. Larson was a major downfield threat in his breakout season last year and still is, but we have seen him operate more with the disc in his hands and help the handlers when they get late in the stall count.
Photo by Matt Messina
The Krenik change has resulted in 11 goals, leading the team, and six assists for him. Meanwhile, Larson has put up 16 assists, tied for second on the team, and five goals on the year thus far.
“It's just naturally happened. I've found myself getting open near the disc when we need resets, and then naturally staying around the disc. We've been running a little bit more of a backfield-driven offense, where I can use my quickness to get open. It honestly has just fit my game pretty well,” said Larson.
Individually, there have been some major surprises for Minnesota. Players like Max Hanscom, Blake Krapfl, Matthew Johnson, Gabe Jagt, and Kyle Suelflow were guys that are either in their rookie year or didn’t get a lot of playing time last year but have shown a ton of potential this year.
“It’s huge to get contributions from guys who've never played in the league before, and they're making a net positive impact. I'm excited to see what they can do,” said Vohnoutka.
Hanscom has blown the top off in his rookie year, currently leading the team in plus/minus at 18, while being second in blocks on the team with nine. The rest of the aforementioned players have played key roles in saving points, making big plays, and being consistently where they need to be.
As far as their two big additions in the offseason Justin Burnett and James Pollard, it has paid off. Burnett is tied for third in the league in blocks with 11 while adding on seven goals and five assists. Burnett has provided a spark on the D-line and has given fits to teams in both the handler area and especially downfield.
“I think the really cool thing is that we know we haven't hit our peak yet, and that's how it's supposed to be. You're supposed to keep building through the midseason. I think we're in a great spot right now,” said Burnett.
Pollard’s numbers may not jump off the page, but he has been pivotal to the success of the D-line. Adding him to the puller rotation with Cameron Lacy has been an unmatched duo. Also, Pollard has snatched multiple buzzer-beating blocks and goals at the end of quarters. That all has led to him putting up three assists, six goals, and seven blocks through five games.
Photo by Matt Messina
The rest of the core guys like Brandt, Vohnoutka, Josh Klane, DeClerck, and Tristan Van de Moortele have all had solid seasons. Brandt leads the team in assists with 19 and total yards with 2,706, with Vohnoutka being second in goals at 10.
Klane is tied for second in assists with 16, and second in throwing yards with 1,189. DeClerck has nine goals on the year, which is third on the team. Lastly, Van de Moortele has been a jack of all trades with a stat line of 15 assists, five goals, and five blocks.
The first half is in the past. You can only watch the film and learn from the mistakes. The mistakes will need to be ironed out in the remaining six games for Minnesota, which brings some tough matchups.
They kick off the second half of the season against the AlleyCats on June 21, then have a rare bye week. They follow that up with a doubleheader weekend with the highly-anticipated rematch against the Union in Chicago on the 4th of July. The second game of that doubleheader is in Detroit against the Mechanix the day after.
The team is ready to get their revenge on Chicago and knows they didn’t play their best game. It’s a common theme throughout the entire team.
“I think we know we didn't give Chicago our best shot, so we're really excited to see them again. We're definitely not afraid of them. We gave their offense some fits, and our offense has been getting better. We're pretty excited for that game,” said Larson.
“I’m incredibly excited for both games. 4th of July against Chicago, at Chicago, I'll just be getting back from Europe, and I think it'll be our best roster of the year. I think we all know the implications of that game, so we'll be ready, for sure,” said Brandt.
“I think the entire league knows that we didn't put anywhere near our best product on the field versus Chicago in that first game. We're going to go out and have a chip on our shoulder to prove that that was a dud. And that we are, in fact, the best team in Central, and the whole league,” said Burnett.
They follow that doubleheader up by hosting the Radicals on July 12. Then, they have another very tough matchup going back to the place where they won the championship against the Salt Lake Shred. A revenge game from losing in the semifinals in 2023 to them.
“It's all about having tough tests, being pushed to the limit, failing, then figuring out how to get better and doing so. We have a bunch of good tests left, which is a product of the tough schedule that we selected. We're excited for that,” said Feldman.
They close up the season with a home game against Detroit on July 20. It is very true that any team can beat any team in this league, but looking ahead, there is a very good chance that Minnesota has at least three more wins that will be added to their total this year. Detroit and Indy are just not at the level that Minnesota is at. Madison is a tricky one, but Minnesota has their number and that could very well be an easy fourth win in the back half.
The two that are starred and have questions about them are the matchups with Chicago and Salt Lake. Minnesota can win those games, no doubt, but it will take the offense getting going right away and that defense to stay at the top of their game. There is a chance we see the Wind Chill with an 11-1 record come the end of the season. The only way to find out is to wait and stay tuned every week!
