Photo by Ed Thompson
Written By: Ryan Baker, Journalist
As we have seen throughout the UFA over the past couple of years, any team can beat anyone on any given day.
The reason this is brought up is that last year, the Minnesota Wind Chill hosted the Pittsburgh Thunderbirds for their home opener and lost by one point. The Wind Chill were the eventual champs, while Pittsburgh missed the playoffs. The thing is, Minnesota hasn’t hosted the T-birds since.
“Overlooking this game is something that is not in the plans after what we went through last year. Winning at Sea Foam has been a struggle, so we’re motivated to make a statement in front of our fans against this specific team. They’re bringing a better roster, and I’m looking forward to the challenge,” said head coach Ben Feldman.
This Saturday night, the second matchup between the two teams will take place at Sea Foam Stadium. The first game between the two was an incredibly lopsided affair, with the Wind Chill storming into Pittsburgh Highmark Stadium and walking away with a 31-14 win.
Photo by Ed Thompson
That was a game in which the Wind Chill were getting anything they wanted, putting up an 81% hold rate and 18 breaks. Almost everyone on the team had some type of success, but fans saw Max Hanscom rattle off four goals with Paul Krenik and Dylan DeClerck scoring three apiece.
Krenik has been flying under the radar this season after switching back over to offense. He is second on the team in both goals (8) and +/- (13). For the last two years, Krenik has been a constant on the stout D-line, but assistant coach Max Longchamp decided before the season that he would be switching over.
“I was told pretty early in the preseason that I was going to be playing offense this year. Max [Longchamp] called me and asked if I was cool to play offense, and I said yes. I’ve had a really good time so far. It’s super easy to play with everyone, especially because I’ve been playing with Will [Brandt], Gordon [Larson], and Leo [Sovell-Fernandez] for a few years now in club,” said Krenik.
Photo by Ed Thompson
The offense has looked shaky at times so far this season as they currently sit middle of the pack with nearly all percentage-related stats offensively. In their loss against Chicago, it took them a while to get the offensive flow started, which put them behind early.
“We’re trying to focus on spacing the field and perfecting our offense. There have been several meetings with the O-line where our main focus has just been on small tweaks in stack depth, spaces to clear to, and where we want to attack from. If we want to go far in the playoffs again, we’re going to need to play better offense than we’ve played in previous seasons,” said Krenik.
While the offense does need to improve, it is tough to focus on that when your O-line is barely seeing the field. With that, Feldman and DeClerck are on the same page with what they want to see out of the D-line.
“I think defensive conversion on offense has been a big focus of ours this year. We took a step back against Atlanta, so I'd like to focus on getting that better this game against Pittsburgh,” said DeClerck.
“We have to be better with the frisbee when we get chances on defense. We felt we made some pretty critical errors with the frisbee, so we’re going to try and shore up that defensive conversion rate on Saturday,” said Feldman.
Also, we are still on record-watch as DeClerck searches for just one more block to put his name at the top of the list of career blocks for the franchise.
Photo by Ed Thompson
“I'd love to have that record behind me as soon as possible! Personal stats shouldn't be the focus when you're working with a team to win a championship. I know my time playing for the Wind Chill is limited, so it's nice to be able to celebrate the cool accomplishments and records along the way,” said DeClerck.
As far as personnel goes for the home team, there are a lot of names that have had an impact that won’t be suiting up. Quinn Snider, Matthew Rehder, and James Pollard headline that list. Additionally, Colin Berry, Josh Klane, and Blake Krapfl are all questionable, and their statuses come game time need to be monitored.
Minnesota is coming off spoiling the undefeated season for the Atlanta Hustle, and Pittsburgh is coming off three straight losses after starting the season 2-0. We will see if Minnesota can keep the momentum going with another big win, or if Pittsburgh can get back on track against the reigning champs.
Tune in here this Saturday at 6 p.m. CT to watch the Minnesota Wind Chill host the Pittsburgh Thunderbirds!
If you are in town, grab tickets to the beach-themed game at Sea Foam Stadium here! The first 500 fans will receive a free light blue lei!
