Photo by Meghan White
Written By: Ryan Baker, Journalist
While the 2026 season ended heartbreakingly for the Minnesota Wind Chill, the year also cemented the team as a perennial winner, an organization growing exponentially, and a franchise that is more than just the product on the field.
Between breaking attendance records, the youth foundation taking off, and returning to the championship game, the Wind Chill should look back on 2026 and be proud. Yes, there is a bit of salt in the mouth after losing their second straight finals appearance, but the pinnacle of this franchise is still far in the future.
“On-field performance was at an extremely high level,” said Head Coach Ben Feldman. “Getting back to the championship game is becoming an expectation. For our fan base and ourselves, anything short of winning a title is going to feel a little bit sour.”
Photo by Matthew Brooks
The team finished with an 11-1 regular-season record, the best finish in 13 years. They made quick work of their opponent in the Central Divisional Championship, took care of business in the semi-finals, but suffered a brutal loss in the finals.
This was the Wind Chill's sixth straight playoff appearance, its third regular-season division title in four years, its third straight finals appearance, and its fourth straight Championship Weekend appearance. Although they lost in the finals for two years in a row, it’s the fourth time a franchise has reached the final four in four years.
“After two years straight of dropping that game, it's tough to swallow for leadership, but at the same time, we acknowledge and recognize how talented the other opponents are,” said Feldman.
Getting to the finals
Minnesota started the season on an absolute tear. Heading into the season, the team added superstars Lukas Ambrose and Noah Coolman, which most thought was adding talent to their already star-studded defense.
“Having those guys involved was awesome,” Feldman said. “They were a great cultural fit. They had a blast. Those guys were such a big part of our system and the vibe of the team.”
For years, the Wind Chill’s defense carried them through games, and it was clear that side of the ball was the team's strength. However, in 2026, the offense was the aspect of the team that made the most waves and had the most attention.
Photo by Ariana Golemis
Minnesota started the year with five straight games with 20 or more points, winning all five. Those wins included two against the Chicago Union, two against the Indianapolis AlleyCats, and one against the Madison Radicals. In the season opener against the Union, the team gave fans a heart attack by going down three out of the gate, but erased all the nonsense by scoring nine straight, leading to a dominant victory.
Starting the season 5-0 is exactly how Feldman and company would’ve drawn it up. Still, Minnesota purposely runs a tough schedule to be battle-tested in the playoffs, and that's when things got significantly harder.
A trip out West to take on the Oakland Spiders and Vegas Bighorns, both for the first time in franchise history, was on the docket. Little did we know, we were watching a preview of the championship game when they played Oakland. It was a back-and-forth matchup, but a timeout called by Oakland’s coach ahead of a Minnesota offensive point allowed the unit to get gas back in their tanks, leading to the one-point win.
A much less grueling game followed suit against the Bighorns. Minnesota took them down 34-12, a game that gave fans two Josh Klane callahans. Back at Sea Foam Stadium, Minnesota hosted the Salt Lake Shred, then Chicago, and won both.
Photo by Ariana Golemis
With one more road game on the schedule, the Wind Chill stood at 9-0 and clinched the one seed in the Central Division. Then, they traveled out to Pittsburgh to make quick work of the Thunderbirds. At 10-0, Minnesota faced its toughest matchup of the season: a 2025 finals rematch against the Boston Glory.
The game went down to the wire, and Boston played out of their minds, handing the Wind Chill their first loss of the season. Despite the loss, the team bounced back with a seven-point win over the Radicals to finish the regular season.
With the first-round bye, the Wind Chill hosted the AlleyCats for the Divisional round. The team immediately jumped to a 5-0 lead, but Indy crawled back to tie early in the second quarter. However, the Wind Chill ate the punch and came back with a haymaker, leading by five heading into halftime. A 22-20 win punched their ticket to Championship Weekend and into the history books.
With the stage set, the Wind Chill faced off against the Austin Sol in the semi-finals, hoping to reach the finals. Minnesota was flawless at the end of quarters and held a three-point lead heading into the last 12 minutes, eventually holding on to a 28-24 win.
Even though it was a massive win, the storyline was Will Brandt going down with a knee injury on the first point of the second half. The combination of him and Gordon Larson was one of the league's deadliest duos, but the offense had to figure out how to go on without one of its best players in the most important game of the season.
Photo by Daniel Cohen
“There was definitely some pain and mental spinning at first,” said Brandt. “But I got a perspective from the sideline that I don’t normally see. I really appreciated seeing how much our sideline was locked in and supporting our team. It was a team effort to finish that game out. Also, it was really cool to see Gordon throw like 5 huck goals in a row, I was fired up.”
With Brandt out, the Oakland-Minnesota rematch was on the table, and the Wind Chill were just 48 minutes away from their second title in three years. Then, disaster struck. A collision in warm-ups knocked Nate De Morgan down with a hip injury. After going back and forth on whether he could play, Feldman ultimately decided to sit De Morgan because he wasn’t anywhere close to full strength.
“It was brutal,” De Morgan said. “I’d been working for that moment all year, even for years, and it went away just like that. I was pretty sad, but sh** happens. We’ll be back.”
“Not a ton of words, to be honest, but just trying to support each other,” Brandt said about interactions with De Morgan before the championship game. “He’s the most competitive guy I know, so I knew how upset he was not to be out there.”
“It was a little bit of a scramble,” said Feldman. “Having to make that call as a coach was tough. You also look at that scenario and grow from it. You get a lot of curveballs thrown at you, so how are you going to adapt and adjust in the biggest moment?”
So, in the most important game of the season, Minnesota was without their two most dynamic offensive players. Granted, Oakland played phenomenally and deserved the title, without a doubt, but it’s a sucker-punch to the gut knowing the Wind Chill were not anywhere near the best they could’ve been. A five-point loss to the Spiders was a very anticlimactic finish to an unbelievable season.
“Take a breath, but we’ll be back,” Brandt told De Morgan.
Photo by Matthew Brooks
“Oakland played an incredible game, and they're a really talented opponent,” Feldman said. “Even our best game wouldn't have been enough. I'm confident that we'll be able to get back in that position very soon.”
Off-field success
While the on-field success was nearly as good as it could’ve been, the Wind Chill’s off-field success might take the cake this season.
A ramped-up youth foundation, the Minnesota Wind Chill Foundation, provided thousands of dollars to youth frisbee programs across the state; hosted countless camps to educate the younger generation about the sport; and has continued to grow its footprint exponentially over the years. The foundation is led by veteran and defensive cornerstone Dylan DeClerck with help from other players and staff in the organization.
“We had a ton of great off-field success with growth of youth camps, our foundation, and growth in sponsorships,” Feldman said. “Our youth programming that Dylan and Tyler [assistant GM] have helped build up is pretty remarkable. It's becoming its own business operation. We're impacting more kids and teaching more kids than ever before.”
To add to that, the Wind Chill’s attendance at home games at Sea Foam Stadium was remarkable. They averaged over 2,000 fans per game and set a new record. For the Salt Lake game, even with inclement weather right before game time, the Wind Chill brought in 2,728 spectators, the most any UFA regular season game has ever recorded.
Photo by Josiah Phifer
It speaks to the unmatched experience Minnesota provides on game days. Over the last few years, the Wind Chill has garnered a lot of attention for its culture on game days, off the field, and within the team. That’s what makes the team such a desirable destination for travel players.
“Ben and the coaching staff are huge for building great systems that attract great players,” said Coolman. “There is a growth mindset in Minnesota that is different from most other teams. Most teams seem comfortable with just being the same every year, but the Wind Chill clearly want to expand the sport and take the next step. The player culture is great. Everyone is really bought in to doing their part to make the team succeed, and I really appreciated that.”
Performance as a unit
It’s safe to say, in terms of raw numbers, that this is the best year the Wind Chill has ever had. They finished in the top four in completion percentage, hold percentage, O-line conversion rate, break percentage, and D-line conversion rate. The only main categories they didn’t finish that high in were huck completion rate (7th) and red zone conversion rate (10th). Not to mention, they had the fifth-fewest overall turnovers, had the 6th most scores per game, the third-fewest scores against per game, and the second-fewest turnovers per game.
“It was pretty remarkable,” Feldman said about the growth of his offense. “We were just a more versatile group. Players kept leveling up and growing. We had veterans perform at an extremely high level as well.”
Photo by Josiah Phifer
The group didn’t break any personal defensive records this year, but still stood amongst the best in the league. It’s also tough to post better defensive stats when the schedule gets tougher each year, and there is no longer a Detroit team to inflate those numbers. However, the offense made waves.
From last year, the hold percentage increased by nearly nine percent, the O-line conversion rate by nearly 11 percent, the completion percentage by three percent, and the huck completion percentage by 14 percent.
The huck completion rate increase from 2025 to 2026 was the second-biggest year-to-year jump any team has ever seen. The O-line conversion rate followed the same trend, but it was the third-biggest jump in UFA history.
The hold percentage was the second-best finish in franchise history. In contrast, the completion percentage, O-line conversion rate, and huck completion rate were the best finishes ever by a Minnesota team. The team valued possession more than ever this year, resulting in nine new career highs in completion percentage among those who played more than 100 points.
Photo by Matthew Brooks
The team's dynamic changed this year. The defense is still filled with All-Defense selections across the board, but the development of Brandt and Larson, while adding De Morgan and Coolman to the offensive attack, drove the engine. Also, the younger guys on the team like Zach Morton and Micah Davis are hitting strides, while veterans Klane, Greg Cousins, and Bryan Vohnoutka were the most efficient they’ve ever been.
“It’s an amazing advantage (and a credit to Ben’s ability to develop and recruit) to continue to bring in extremely talented young players every year,” DeClerck said. “Their hunger and competitiveness push our other veterans to continue to develop our skills and bring our best at practice each week.”
Individual recognition
Minnesota has built one of the strongest programs in the league as a unit, so if you ask any of the guys on the team whether individual awards or honors mean anything to them, odds are they'll quickly say they don’t. The Wind Chill aren’t a team that rides on one or two star players. Rather, they believe that their 25th guy on the roster would be a starter on most other teams in the league.
Nonetheless, recognition needs to happen when it’s due, and in 2026, a lot of it is. To start with league honors, the Wind Chill had seven total honors this season. Feldman won runner-up Coach of the Year, Brandt and Larson earned Second Team All-UFA selections, Justin Burnett earned First Team All-Defense honors, and Cameron Lacy, Paul Krenik, and DeClerck all made Second Team All-Defense.
Photo by Ariana Golemis
It's Brandt's best finish of his career (Third Team All-UFA finishes in 2024 and 2025), and rightfully so after putting together his first full season in the UFA. It's also Larson's first time being on one of the All-UFA teams, alongside Krenik's first appearance on any of the lists. Meanwhile, Lacy earned his second selection, and DeClerck earned his third. Burnett is the highlight of the group considering he became the first player in history to earn four straight selections.
Looking at the 2026 stats, Larson leads the charge, finishing first in throwing yards with 5,929. It’s the first time a Wind Chill player has finished first in the league in either goals, assists, total yards, throwing yards, or receiving yards. In fact, only one other instance has seen a Wind Chill player finish in the top five in any of those categories (Cousins finished third in goals in 2017). Larson was shifted into the quarterback role this season, and it paid off handsomely. He totaled 50 assists, 37 hockey assists, and had a 95.74 completion percentage.
“I think people got used to seeing me behind the disc a lot and being a primary thrower, so I might have to start chopping it up as a cutter some more again,” said Larson. “With all of the hybrids on our team, we might be able to create some mismatches and game plan problems by moving things around and being unpredictable.”
Photo by Meghan White
Now we move on to Larson’s partner in crime. Brandt had his best season in his career with 33 assists, 28 goals, a 52 +/-, 4,766 total yards, and a 96.37 completion percentage. Brandt was much more involved downfield and unlocked a new level in his game. He was one of 15 players with at least 30 assists and 25 goals this season.
“Consistency,” Brandt said when asked about what he and the offense can do to level up even more. “Within a game and within a season. Continue to grow into that role and be dynamic. We know that this team and offense have so much room to grow still. I’m looking forward to thinking critically about our weaknesses this offseason.”
“Gordon's ability to handle the ball took a lot of pressure off Will and allowed him to do a little bit more with his legs,” Feldman said. “There's a lot of confidence there, and they're playing off each other pretty well.”
For the defensive honorees, DeClerck topped the Wind Chill leaderboards in blocks with 17, including seven in the playoffs and four in the finals. Lacy continues to hold the title of the league's best puller and added 14 blocks to his resume. Burnett finished with 16 blocks, even though offenses mostly avoided him. Finally, Krenik sneakily finished with the team's third-highest plus/minus at 45. He had 14 assists, 20 goals, 14 blocks, and didn’t have a turnover until his eighth game of the season (127/129 on the year).
“I obviously hoped to have more of an impact at Championship Weekend this year than last year, and prepared for this season in a way that would allow me to be at my best in the playoffs,” said DeClerck.
The other three players that jump off the page are Morton, De Morgan, and Coolman. Morton burst onto the scene this year, having played just one game in the UFA before this season. He led the team with 44 goals, enough to be sixth in the league. He had countless end-of-quarter skies that made the throw feel automatic. Morton also had four games with at least six goals scored.
“It’s incredibly rewarding,” Morton said. “Knowing all the work that has gone into getting to this point and seeing it pay off. That said, it’s not a stat just for myself. Ultimate is the best example of a team sport because you can’t score a goal by yourself. I just happened to be the one to score the goals at the end.”
Photo by Matthew Brooks
Feldman gives a lot of kudos to Assistant Coach Max Longchamp for vouching for Morton on the offensive side. Eventually, Morton earned his full-time spot with that group. Morton also gives Cousins a lot of credit for developing his game. Mind you, Morton is heading into his junior year of college.
“This team is filled from the top of the roster through all the practice players with the best of the best frisbee players,” Morton said. “If I had to pick someone, Greg has a knowledge and expertise of spacing and timing like no other, and learning from him has helped me take my cutting ability to the next level.”
For De Morgan, he made an impact the moment he stepped on the field in a Wind Chill uniform four games into the season. His versatile throws opened a dimension to the offense that hadn’t been seen before. He finished with 27 assists, 28 goals, a 43 +/-, and over 3,000 total yards. De Morgan only had one game this season with fewer than four scores.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen coming in,” De Morgan said. “I knew I could play and compete with anyone, but didn’t know how it’d all work out. I’m glad how it all turned out.”
Coolman was another aspect of the offense that opened the floodgates to success. A prospective D-line player with the talent and skill to switch over at times, Coolman’s role changed very quickly once Feldman saw how comfortable he was with the disc in practices before the season. Coolman finished with 28 assists and a +31 +/-. And over 3,900 total yards. He was the perfect change-of-pace player for this group.
“I didn’t necessarily expect to play offense, but it was nice to get the opportunity,” Coolman said. “It seemed like all my skills were valued and I got to show that all season.”
Finally, the guys that round out the group all were instrumental to the team. It was mentioned before that nine guys had new career-highs in completion percentage. Among them were Kristian Johnson, who had 25 assists; Cousins, who had 22 goals; and Klane, who had 24 assists. Even Vohnoutka caught 22 goals this season, despite missing a few weeks, and Noah Hanson was fifth on the team in plus/minus, with 23 assists, 12 goals, and 9 blocks.
It was an unbelievable season for the Wind Chill, and they fell just short. This program and team reached new heights in nearly every aspect of the game.
Favorite moments from the team
“This season was great,” Larson said. “Amazing teammates and support across the board; from day one, it was super fun and special. It was exciting taking on a larger responsibility this year, and our whole team felt like we made big strides. Although we lost in the finals again, I absolutely think this year’s team would have beaten last year’s team. Beating Oakland in their own house was so fun. I can’t lie, I wasn’t that confident going into the game, but pretty quickly realized that we could do it.”
“Oakland and Vegas road trip,” Brandt said about his favorite moment of the year. “Seeing our defense go for nine straight in game one, too.”
“I’m most proud of how tightly we bonded as a team, and how much we improved throughout the course of the season,” De Morgan said. “I’m super grateful for everyone I met, and that helped me this year. All of the fellas are awesome, and I’m proud of how hard we all worked together.”
Photo by Matthew Brooks
“I'm most proud of our ability to navigate one of the toughest schedules in the league, set a team regular season win record at 11-1, win the division, and make our third straight championship,” said DeClerck. “Off the field, I'm most proud of our fans for showing up every game and creating the best atmosphere in the UFA; it made a huge difference for our team at every home game this season.”
“I think the Oakland-Vegas weekend was pretty awesome,” Coolman said. “All around good times. Basically a boys trip with two frisbee games, and we won both so that’s always extra fun. Although the Sunday morning in Vegas might have been the worst I’ve felt in a long time, I’d say it was a super fun year.”
“It's hard not to think about a bunch of Zach Morton end-of-quarter catches that are exhilarating and exciting,” Feldman said about his favorite moments. Being at Champion Weekend with all of our fans was awesome. Also, the semifinal win and knowing that it's going to be a late night with prepping, getting to the whole routine again- that process is really exciting and fun to do as a team. That experience is so valuable for the guys to understand the process of what it takes to win a title.”
Photo by Matthew Brooks
