Photo by Ron Sellers
Written By: Ryan Baker, Journalist
With two road victories on the West Coast last weekend, the Minnesota Wind Chill have officially passed the halfway mark in their 2026 season.
The Wind Chill stands as one of the league's last two unbeaten teams at 7-0, marking the program's first such start since 2017. They sit with a comfortable lead in the Central, as the Madison Radicals are in second place at 3-2.
The season started with smooth sailing over the first three games. The home opener was a 22-12 win against Chicago, followed by a doubleheader road trip with a 21-13 win over Indy and a 20-15 win over Chicago again.
The next two games were closer, but the weather stayed incredibly clean. In a visit to Breese Stevens Field, Minnesota defeated the Radicals 23-20 in one of the best collective offensive performances from both teams. The second was a 23-19 home win against Indy, completing the sweep in 2026.
That brings us to last week’s West Coast doubleheader, where they edged the Oakland Spiders 19-18 and handed the Vegas Bighorns a 34-12 loss.
Photo by Ron Sellers
“I think that this is the most talented team ever, no question, but more importantly, it’s the most together our team has been and some of the most fun I’ve had on the field playing for this team,” Josh Klane stated.
Coming into the season, the Wind Chill defense was expected to be one of the best to hit the UFA field after adding superstars Noah Coolman and Lukas Ambrose, but oddly enough, its offense has been the story of 2026.
Their offensive marks include:
- Hold percentage: 71.9 percent (4th best)
- O-line conversion rate: 59.18 percent (5th best)
- Huck completion rate: 68.42 percent (7th best)
- Scores per game: 23.14 (6th best)
- Completion percentage: 95.63 percent (3rd best)
- Red zone conversion rate: 85.16 percent (7th best)
- Turnovers per game: 13 (2nd fewest)
- Offensive efficiency: 0.6211 (3rd best)
- Total throwaways: 80 (4th fewest)
Comparing those marks to the first seven games for Minnesota in 2024 and 2025, four things stand out: completion percentage is up by over 3 percent, huck completion rate is up by nearly 10 percent, total throwaways are down from 104 in 2025 and 113 in 2024, and offensive efficiency has improved from 0.521 in 2024 and 0.564 in 2025.
The other numbers hover right around where they have been the last two years, but it’s slightly more impressive this year, considering the level of competition has risen significantly.
The charge has been driven by personnel changes within the group. Gordon Larson has taken on more of a backfield role, giving him the team lead in assists at 26, including three games with six assists. Coolman has paired well with Larson, opening up the group's dynamics more. Nate De Morgan has fit in incredibly well in his first four Wind Chill games. His 26 scores are already third-most on the team, with 12 assists and 14 goals, and his ability to make any throw from any point on the field has opened up another layer for the offense.
“I’m surprised at how easy it was to mix in with the group. I help out where I can and try to make it easy for the boys to cook,” Coolman said on the biggest surprise to him this season.
Photo by Josiah Phifer
“Those 2 guys [De Morgan and Coolman] create a whole new dimension for our offense, and it’s allowing all of us to fit in our roles perfectly,” Klane said. “It’s been an absolute blast playing with this group this year, and I think that’s why we have been playing so well. In past years, it has felt like more of a job, but this year it feels like we all have rediscovered the joy that exists in playing good offense.”
Larson has already matched his career-high for assists in a single season and has his completion percentage up nearly 3 percent from prior years. Coolman is also up nearly 6 percentage points in completion percentage compared to his 2025 season, and De Morgan is up over 9 percentage points.
“I think he's really blossomed this year with confidence, maturity, and how he's handling himself,” Feldman said about Larson. “He gives a lot of confidence to our offensive unit with the role that he's playing and the level of his play.”
“The start to this season has been great, and I’m super happy with how I’ve been playing,” De Morgan reflected. “I have to give credit to all of my teammates and coaches for putting me in the position to succeed. It’s been super great, and we’re still getting better.”
Perhaps the biggest difference has been Will Brandt’s role. He said before the season that he would be involved a bit more downfield, but we weren’t sure to what extent. He now leads the team in goals (16), total scores (30), and receiving yards (1,489). He’s made a ton of huge catches in end-of-quarter situations and has been the top target for huck attempts.
Brandt surpassed his career-high in goals for a single season this past weekend and will most likely set a new career-high for receiving yards in Minnesota’s next game.
Even the mainstays of this offense have improved this year. Greg Cousins, Bryan Vohnoutka, Klane, and Leo Sovell-Fernandez have all been playing very well.
Photo by Ariana Golemis
“I'm happy with the level of resilience that we have been able to display as a team,” Feldman remarked. “On paper, the offensive unit has made some really big strides, and the level of experience is increasing. We also have some veterans like Josh Klane and Greg Cousins, who are playing some of their best Ultimate to date.”
Cousins has yet to throw a turnover in his 79 attempts and has added clutch goals and jaw-dropping catches all season. Vohnoutka has quietly put together a great season, on pace to set a career-high in receiving yards. Klane is posting his best completion percentage in nearly a decade, sitting at 96.35 this season, while he has been consistently around 92 or 93 percent since 2021. Finally, Sovell-Fernandez’s completion percentage is now 98.72 percent, up from his 96 percent mark over the last two years.
“We have so much creativity and firepower,” Vohnoutka stated. “I also like how we have been adjusting pace, sticking with resets, and taking shots when appropriate.”
While there is a lot of focus on the offensive side for Minnesota, their defense is still one of the best in the league and is doing a very good job, just not fully meeting the insanely high expectations everyone placed on the group heading into the season.
Their 43.35 break percentage is the third-best in the league. The D-line conversion rate is the best in the league at 66.37 percent, but their block numbers have declined. The 10.29 blocks per game are the eighth-most in the league, but down from the last two years. However, it is worth noting that they’ve played in a couple of games with essentially no wind, and offenses are getting better at handling the disc across the league.
“We've played in some pretty calm games relative to what we typically would see,” Feldman said. “I think it's a credit to the offenses, too. It's getting harder in general to generate turns in the UFA. Teams and players are figuring out how to play small ball, and they're not being as reckless with the frisbee.”
Justin Burnett leads the charge with 10 blocks in six games. Following him are Ambrose with 9, Cameron Lacy and Dylan DeClerck with 7, and Paul Krenik with 6, rounding out the team's top five. All of those players have more than 10 scores as well.
Photo by Ariana Golemis
A big addition to the defensive group, figuratively and literally, has been Zach Morton, who had just one game played in his career prior to this season. Through six games, he has 10 goals and 5 blocks, including some impressive skies and end-of-quarter blocks.
This goes without even mentioning other key players that are performing well, like Noah Hanson and Blake Krapfl. Hanson has 17 scores this year while playing D-line, and finally saw the numbers go his way against Vegas.
While the stats look solid, the D-line conversion rate is one of the biggest areas for improvement for the team heading into the back half of the season.
“Our defensive conversion on paper was really good going into last weekend, and then we struggled quite a bit with it against Oakland,” Feldman said. “That's something that we have to continue to do at a high level. Being even more poised with the disc when we get our limited opportunities against the best teams is going to be critical.”
Even at 7-0, the first half of the season doesn’t matter if you can’t play at the highest level when it matters most. The Wind Chill will have to keep playing at this rate to make it back to Championship Weekend and get a shot at three straight finals appearances, in hopes of bringing home their second trophy in that span.
“It feels good, but we know that there is more work to do,” Vohnoutka said. “We’re hungry to keep building each week, knowing we still have tough games ahead.”
The remaining games include two home matchups against the Salt Lake Shred and Chicago Union in back-to-back weeks. Then, Minnesota will travel to Pittsburgh to play the Thunderbirds. After that, they will close out the season with two home games at Sea Foam Stadium against the Boston Glory and the Radicals.
Photo by Dart Weaver
“It’s easy to look immediately to Friday against Salt Lake,” Vohnoutka said. “We haven’t beaten Salt Lake in our two matchups. We know they want to keep that record intact and are in the middle of the playoff hunt out West. After that, we have Boston, a rematch of the UFA Final last year, and our divisional matchups always feel contentious.”
The Glory is clearly the most anticipated matchup, as it’s the 2025 championship rematch, and the crowd at Sea Foam Stadium will surely break another attendance record. Through their first two home games, the Wind Chill have broken the attendance record in each one, amassing over 4,000 total fans.
It’s a confident statement that Minnesota looks like the best team in the league right now. A lot can change in five games, but locking them as the first seed in the Central seems like a very reasonable assumption.
“It's all about preparation for the postseason,” Feldman said. “We still have a lot of good tests, some interdivisional games, and a lot of home games to round out the season. We want to continue to get better as we approach July and early August.”
A big emphasis from around the team is that everyone is having fun. As trivial as that may sound, there is a clear correlation between success and enjoying yourself. Obviously, talent, prep, and skill go into that winning category, but doing it with passion and joy can go a long way when mistakes are made and when rebounding from them.
“We’re all just building each other up on the field,” Coolman said. “Everyone is making plays or hyping each other up, so that’s making it easy to have fun out there.”
The Wind Chill will look to continue their masterful season and has the chance to prove that with their five remaining games. Keeping the offensive momentum going, having fun, and being a bit more careful with the disc during transition offense are the keys to keeping a notch out of that loss column.
To buy tickets to the remaining home games at Sea Foam Stadium this year, go here!
