Fast Takes with Fast Break: Minneapolis v Chicago
Authors: Jack Levy and Sam Nielsen
PC: Major League Quadball
What do the Olympic Torch Relay, presidential transition letters, and master Oogway’s death in Kung Fu Panda all have in common? They all involve the transfer of power. This Saturday at 4 pm ET (3pm local), we’ll find out if the Monarchs have returned to reign at the top of the North Division or if Chicago Prowl will be the new king of the jungle (Sorry Toronto, but the division title game at North Champs is already penciled in). The North Division has been waiting all season long for July 8th due to the stakes of this game. The winner will likely win the division, get a bye into bracket play at MLQ championships, and make a semifinals or finals appearance. The loser will fall short of the division title, have to fight their way through the play-in bracket, and likely have their bracket run cut short if they make it there. Worst of all, they’ll have to wait another year for a rematch knowing they lost to their divisional rival. Quite literally, everything is on the line for these two teams, making this not just the series of the week, but the series of the season.
In their short history, the Minneapolis Monarchs have proved dominant. They’ve taken the division title for the past two seasons, sweeping the Indianapolis Intensity in both 2021 and 2022. The Monarchs have been able to soar to success in this division like no other expansion team in MLQ, and if they win this weekend, they will be only the second team in North Division history to three-peat. The other team to accomplish this feat is the former Indianapolis Intensity, who was the clear dominant team before Minneapolis existed, but have had much more limited success since the Monarchs’ addition to the league. 2023 brings a new era for the returning players who made up Indianapolis with their move and rebrand to the Chicago Prowl. Saturday will show if Prowl can become the new dominant team in the North- or Monarchs will maintain the throne.
The move to Chicago has been more than just a change of city and change of mascot for the franchise. The relocation comes with the addition of several talented players joining a group of veterans with lots of experience playing at the highest level. Leading the squad is head coach Kennedy Murphy, who is not playing this season due to injury. Murphy’s time with the program includes their North Division championship in 2019, and she has been a growing leader on the team for the past few seasons, now making the step to head coach.
On the chasing side, former head coach Nathan Digmann is the long-time anchor of the quadball game, and should be joined in playing significant minutes by returning veterans and fellow USQ semifinalist Boom Train players Ally Manzella, Cole Collins, and Ryley Andrews. These returners will be augmented this season by a flood of new chaser talent into the Chicago area: U.S. National Team (USNT) star chaser Darian Murcek-Ellis joins from the Kansas City Stampede after a national championship run with The Warriors in the USQ season, former development academy chaser and Detroit Innovator Emma Vasquez joins the franchise after an incredible USQ season on Boom Train, Byron Ng played for the New York Titans last summer before a stellar season with their college program at Rutgers University and being added to the US National Team Development Academy (USNT-DA). Nivash Jayaram is making the formal switch to chasing after playing utility for the franchise last season and a USQ season full of developing the Columbia College Chicago team through a gauntlet of games against elite college talent. Another notable addition, Lauren Smith will make her MLQ debut after playing for an excellent Mizzou team in the USQ season. Chicago’s recruitment of these stars, including pickups from three other MLQ franchises, brings a burst of new life to the Prowl program, and they’ll be looking to show this growth from brooms up. One question on everyone’s minds is which of these players steps up to join Digmann as a ball-carrier and initiator of the offense this year. Ng would currently be our pick, especially with his experience from the last USQ and MLQ seasons, but it’s a puzzle these players struggled with under the Intensity banner and one they will need to figure out to have a chance to win the series.
The beating corps for Chicago is also anchored by a long-time veteran of the franchise, Matt Brown, who has played for them since 2015 and was added to the U.S. National Team roster this year. Joining Brown at beater are several of his beating partners on Boom Train, as well as assistant coach Dany Yaacoub. Brown and Yaacoub proved absolutely dominant at times last year, and will look to continue that this year. Prowl do not have as many flashy additions in the beating game as at chaser, but do have several new additions from the college game: Colin Gaines (Columbia College Chicago) and Caleb Williams (Baylor) will make their North Division debuts in this critical series.
These beaters will be making their debut against Minneapolis’ veteran core, so they’ll need to follow the leadership of assistant coach Tad Walters and the veteran players to avoid being swallowed by the difference in experience. The Monarchs are getting Gracie Johnson back for this must-win series. Johnson was not available for their home series against Detroit, but she will certainly be a staple for this beating squad against Chicago. She will likely start alongside head coach Cody Narveson, looking to set the pace for the series. Narveson, the reigning North Division MVP, is a dominant and strategic beater, especially during the flag period in close games. We will likely see the return of the successful pairing of Ben Schlueter and Nathan Podolsky, who each had a plus/minus of ten in week two of this season. Podolsky leads the division in average dodgeballs coming into this series and is looking to continue his success.
On the chaser end, the Monarchs are bringing their leading scorer, Max Meier, who had ten goals and seven stops in their home series. Alongside him will be Alex “OB” Obanor, who had seven goals and five assists against Detroit. USNT chaser Emma Persons is still recovering from an injury, and she will be missed in this series. Yet, the Monarchs proved they don’t rely on their stars as they had ten other goal scorers in their home series, showing the ability to distribute the ball around, facilitating any teammate to success. Second in assists for the team was Ben Zimet, a rookie chaser for the program. Expect them to get a lot of minutes in this series, as they played heavy minutes in the team’s home opener.
In the 2021 series, the Monarchs relied on some of the most talented seekers in the league, USNT seeker Henry Baer-Benson and USNT-DA seeker Joe Goulet. Despite their absences in 2022, Monarchs reigned supreme for the 2nd time without needing a flag catch, yet the two of them returned to Minneapolis this season. Unlike last season, Minneapolis will likely need the flag to win games this weekend with the parity in the scoring game otherwise. Baer-Benson went 3 for 3 in catching the flag against Detroit, with two of those catches being in critical moments. Flag catches might be the key factor to this game for the Monarchs. While Chicago’s seekers Nojus Ausra, Matt Melton, and Liam Zach can each get the job done, Monarch’s seekers are automatic. Baer-Benson and Goulet’s return gives them a clear edge over Prowl after the release of the flag runner at 20 minutes..
The Monarchs will need to use their seeker advantage to take the series. If they can keep it close before the flag comes out, they will be able to hold the throne. There are two ways they can do this. The first is to keep the game at such a slow pace that entering flag-on-pitch the score is low enough that a flag catch changes the entire momentum. While Chicago’s offense is strong on paper, this is their first series of the year, and being the last team to start the season has its disadvantages. The team will need to help its new players adjust to a different offensive style, which takes a lot of time. If Chicago was unable to do this effectively during these summer months leading up to the series, Prowl will start their season colder than chef Tad Walters’ gazpacho.
The second way the Monarchs could play this series, and the one that is more likely, is to look for enough chaos in the beater game and a high-pressure defense to get transition goals, utilizing their diversity of scoring threats. This could be risky, as last year the Prowl players were perfectly happy to press on defense and run fast breaks before the reset line changes. They will likely be ready to take advantage of any transition opportunities they get this time. When not running in transition, Chicago will likely run a methodical, pass-heavy offense, relying on well-timed cuts and driving pressure to find easy looks at the hoops for points. Prowl’s path to success will likely rely on leading by more than 40 points before 20 minutes to ignore the flag. The less important Chicago can make the flag in the first half of the game, the more likely Chicago is to win. One of the big keys to this series is which team will have dodgeball control at 20 minutes. Any game that is within 40 points will likely be won by the team who maintains dodgeball control when the flag runner is on pitch.
One thing guaranteed about this series is that it is must see quadball. The amount of national level talent playing this series is immense. The rivalry between these two teams has grown dramatically over the last two years. The stakes of this series could not be higher, with both teams’ seasons on the line. Could you even call yourself a quadball fan if you don’t tune in this week? We see Chicago taking the series in bold fashion and overthrowing the monarchy with a sweep, but our writers have underestimated Minneapolis in this matchup before, so don’t count them out.
Prediction: Chicago 3-0