Photo by David Kocherhans

Written By: Ryan Baker, Journalist

This Friday night, the Minnesota Wind Chill hosts the Salt Lake Shred in Week 9’s Free Friday Night Frisbee on YouTube.

These two franchises meet for the third time in history, with the first two ending in the Shred's favor. This time, though, the circumstances have changed. In the 2023 and 2025 matchups, the Shred were atop the league with Minnesota closing in. This year, Minnesota is atop the league, and Salt Lake seems to be on a downward spiral, standing at 4-3 and losing its last two games.

The Shred will have to travel to Sea Foam Stadium a day after playing the Radicals in Madison, so the Wind Chill could see a tired, battered opponent. Even so, Minnesota will rally behind its thousands of fans and seek blood to reach its 8th win of the season.

Personnel-wise, the Shred are only missing Sam Pew, but he’s been out for the last month, so Salt Lake will be walking into Minnesota at full strength, barring any major incidents in Madison. On the Wind Chill side, they will suit up without Thomas Shope, Kristian Johnson, and Jordan Taylor. In addition, Dylan DeClerck will be a game-time decision, currently listed as questionable.

The two substitutions are Owen Suelflow and Micah Davis, both in their second career games. Suelflow played in the Chicago home opener, and Davis played last week in Vegas on the team’s West Coast trip. Suelflow will slot in on defense, while Davis could see both sides, coming off a runner-up finish for D-1 Men’s Offensive Player of the Year. He posted two assists, one goal, a block, and four hockey assists in that blowout win.

“We were excited to bring Micah Davis out to Vegas for his first UFA game,” Head Coach Ben Feldman said. “We thought he played well, and we're excited to see him get an opportunity at Sea Foam Stadium this Friday against Salt Lake.”

One of the bigger storylines of this game is Nate De Morgan facing his former team, where he was a major player in Salt Lake’s transition offense in the back half of 2025.

Photo by Josiah Phifer

“It’s going to be super fun. Some of my best friends are on that team, and I love all of them,” De Morgan said. “I’m super excited to compete against them, but it’s all love. I gave some player insights, but that was about it. Our coaching staff does an amazing job watching film and scouting.”

This year, he has blown expectations out of the water. He has 12 assists and 14 goals through four games while showing the ability to make any throw from any point. A staple of De Morgan is that he is a lefty thrower, but he unleashes a righty hammer as smoothly as many righty throwers.

“My dad taught me how to throw when I was super young, and I’ve always practiced throwing a lot,” De Morgan said. “I throw lots of hard throws in games, and they’ve kind of just become second nature.”

Minnesota is well-positioned for a big defensive game against the Shred. Salt Lake loves deep shots and builds much of its movement with chunk yardage by taking the top off the defense and fitting in creative throws.

The catch is that Feldman loves to set up schemes that bait those throws. His defense can close the gap and apply pressure on those shots. When they smell blood in the water, the pressure increases tenfold. However, the biggest key is cashing in on those break opportunities, an area Feldman wants his team to improve.

Photo by Josiah Phifer

“The lack of execution on our defensive break opportunities early in the Oakland game was pretty disappointing,” Feldman stated. “We've talked a lot about it, and we can't afford to do that in the future against teams of that stature if we expect to win.”

Salt Lake is a team of that stature. Every team has its hiccups, but it is noteworthy that they have won 10 or more games every season since 2022, so Minnesota can’t afford to get comfortable or lazy coming out of the gate.

To buy tickets to Minnesota’s third home game at Sea Foam Stadium, go here!

To celebrate the Minnesota Wind Chill Foundation’s Youth Night, all Youth Ages 11-18 will get a ticket to the game for free and are encouraged to wear their team's jersey! Simply reserve your free ticket by using Promo Code: YOUTHNIGHT in the cart to reduce the Youth Ticket cost to $0! No ticket required for Kids 10 and Under.

To watch the game for free at 7 p.m. on Friday, go here!