July 9, 2026
By Charlie Hoppes
This Saturday, the reigning champion Boston Glory travel to Sea Foam Stadium, where the undefeated Minnesota Wind Chill and their fans seem to set attendance records every home game. It’s hard to put into context how unprecedented this matchup is, and how excellent these two teams are. But let’s give it a shot anyway, shall we?
A rare championship rematch
While the number of cross-divisional games has skyrocketed after the pandemic, there have been precious few rematches between the two teams in the previous year’s championship game. Back in April 2018, the Toronto Rush avenged their heartbreaking loss to the San Francisco FlameThrowers in 2017 title game with a blowout win in the Bay Area in what ended up being the FlameThrowers final season. And in 2024, the New York Empire ran their record to 3-0 over the Salt Lake Shred over a 12-month span, sandwiching a 2023 championship between a highly anticipated preview (more on that in a minute) and a rematch. Now we have the two teams that gave us such an excellent final last August.
An even rarer late-season clash between the best in the league
There have only been six games between teams with one or fewer losses in 10 or more games. The 2014 title game was between the Toronto Rush and the then-San Jose Spiders, each 15-1. At 2022 Championship Weekend, all four teams arrived with one or zero losses, and therefore both semis and the final all featured nearly untouched teams. And in 2023, the 10-0 Empire traveled to Salt Lake to face the 11-0 Shred, handing the Shred their only loss until the two teams played again for the championship a few weeks later. That 2023 Empire-Shred game is the only regular-season game between two teams with records 9-1 or better in the history of the league. Until Saturday, when 9-1 Boston plays 10-0 Minnesota.
These are two of the best offenses in the league
The Boston Glory rode an offense that more or less refused to turn the disc over to their title last season, by resetting whenever they wanted to an unguardable reset handler in Jeff Babbitt. A number of teams around the league looked at those numbers and decided they should slow things down a bit–13 teams are averaging more completions per O-line possession than they did a year ago, including the Glory themselves, even though Babbitt has appeared in only 5 games.
But no team learned that lesson more thoroughly than the one that saw it up close in the championship game. Long the weak spot of a title-contending team, the Wind Chill O-line throws the third-most completions per possession in the league, and has seen that number jump by almost exactly two completions from last year, by far the biggest such change in the league. The result is an O-line completion percentage that comes in three points higher than last season, moving from 93.1 percent (17th in the league) to 96.1 percent (tied with Boston for second). And more critically, their hold percentage is just as dramatically improved, leaping from 62.8 percent in 2025 (15th in the league) to 73.1 percent (third in the league). While Nate De Morgan and Noah Coolman have been wonderful additions, the change in tactics is largely responsible for an offense with many familiar faces to the mediocre Wind Chill offenses of recent vintage playing unquestionably the best offensive ultimate both for every player on the line across the board, and by extension, in Minnesota team history.
As for Boston? Even with Babbitt playing in five games and starting on offense in just three of them, their offense has leaned into the possession-based ball with even greater success. They are now completing nearly nine passes per O-line possession, biding their time until reigning MVP Tobe Decraene (50 assists, 31 goals) or Thomas Edmonds (98.9 percent completion rate, 7 for 7 on hucks) can find a good look to take. The result is a hold rate in line with last year, but an O-line conversion percentage at 61.4 percent, good for second in the league after sitting at 55.4 percent last season. So the most crushing offense in the league last year has refined their steamroller, and the three-time defending Central Division champs have at long last turned their offense into a strength.
And these are two of the best defenses in the league
The Wind Chill have long been the class of the league on the defensive side, riding an excellent D-line to a title in 2024. They are at it again in 2026, with the third-best Defensive Efficiency according to Shown Space, with 58.9 percent of opposing O-line’s possessions ending in a way other than a goal. They absolutely own the skies, with opponents completing only 56.9 percent of their huck attempts against the Wind Chill D-line. Justin Burnett (14 blocks) is turning in another suffocating season, with too many others to name pouring on block after block.
Here is the Glory’s turn to take a big step up. Last season, they had a Defensive Efficiency of 51.4 percent (ninth), a number that has slid up to 56 percent (fifth) this year. And they have also improved their conversion rate on break attempts, up to 60 percent this year despite only two games played by counterattack maestro and 2025 Defensive Player of the Year Tannor Johnson-Go, on more break chances per game. Oscar Graff leads the way on the counterattack in a season that should earn him some Most Improved Player votes, and is supported by Zach Singer, Rowan McDonnell (out this Saturday), Cole Davis-Brand, and Lander Decraene in the effort to convert break attempts.
Is this the game of the year? A championship game preview?
We’ve said it before, folks, and I am sure we will say it again. This could well be the game of the year. The first Boston-New York game was extremely compelling going into it, and the Oakland-Minnesota game lived up to the hype. Carolina-Atlanta battles have been deeply entertaining, as they always are, and it wouldn’t be a UFA season without at least one DC-New York thriller.
But we know more now than we did then! We know that the two finalists from a year ago are clearly better than the teams they were then. We know Minnesota has far and away their best offense in franchise history, and a legitimately top unit in the league. We know Boston has fine-tuned their winning formula. We know that they are a combined 19-1 going into this game, 8-1 against teams currently holding playoff spots, and have wins over fellow title favorites in New York and Oakland.
We have never seen a regular-season championship rematch that features two teams on the home stretch of another season at the top of the league. It’s very likely that we will never have seen a crowd as large for a regular-season game before. And so, this is a game you will want to make sure you see.
ABOUT CHARLIE HOPPES
Charlie Hoppes has coached ultimate for 20 years, including several stints in the UFA. He was co-head coach of the New York Empire–helping to lead them to undefeated championship seasons in 2022 and 2023–and is currently a coaching consultant for the Indianapolis Alleycats. Hoppes provides individualized coaching services to players, coaches, and teams at all levels through Charlie Hoppes Ultimate Coaching & Consulting (CHUCC). Learn more at charliehoppes.com
