Fast Takes with Fast Break: Minneapolis vs Detroit

Authors: Beckett Brueggemann; Tessa Mullins & Vincenzo Cicco; Naresh Edala

PC: Major League Quidditch

Monarchs Ready to Take Flight

The Minneapolis Monarchs are ready for their first series of the season as they look to defend their title as North Division Champions. Last summer, the Monarchs won against the Innovators in a 3-0 series, which they will be hoping to replicate this weekend. The Monarchs are returning with core members of their team such as Terry Carlson, April Grabner, Gracie Johnson, and Max Meier. With these players guiding the way, they will be ready to face the new lines that Detroit has prepared for this weekend.

Even so, the Monarchs will be playing against a team that has a significant number of new players who might bring a whole new Innovators playstyle to the pitch. Will the Innovators have the same connections and community, which the Monarchs have worked so hard to build and which makes them such an impactful team on the pitch? While they have yet to see how this new Detroit team plays, the Monarchs are well established and have a solid understanding of their teammates’ playing styles which could give them the edge going into this weekend’s games. 

The strength of this team comes when they are able to run and that should be what they are able to do this weekend. The core of Twin Cities Quidditch Club makes up much of the Monarchs roster and their performance this past USQ season has shown that they are looking to run at all times. However, the loss of Sean Pagaoda will be a crucial loss for their beater depth but the quaffle talent including Mike Devine, Alexander Obanor, and Emma Parson combined with the aforementioned core returners should make this quaffle depth deadly as the summer goes on. Because of this, the Monarchs might be looking for opportunities to debut their rookies against the Innovators. Coming from local colleges, players such as Meredith McDowell, Sydney Stommes, Will Templin, and Rory Uskavitch could have space to show off their abilities on the pitch this weekend with the guidance of the returning players. 

Heading into this series, the Monarchs will need to prepare themselves to face a Detroit different from the team they played last year. While they should have room to explore their depth on the pitch, Detroit still has the ability to show up in a big way against this team in an upset series.

Innovators are Gearing Up

Detroit has the pleasure of starting their season up against the defending North Division Champions. For many new Innovators making their MLQ debut, these games will be a strong example of the intensity and competitiveness offered by MLQ. While this might not be the best opportunity to boost the confidence of a predominantly young team, starting the season with a tough matchup gives Detroit a great chance to see exactly what works and what doesn’t so they can adjust for their next series.

As if having so many Innovators playing their first games in MLQ wasn’t exciting enough, this weekend we’ll also witness the product of the first month of MLQ coaching by Kaegan Maddelein, David Banas, Cam Kniffen, and Emma Vasquez (accompanied of course by veteran coach Jeannette High). I’m most interested in seeing what rookie chasers may join Vasquez and Maddelein in the top line. I’m also just as eager to see if Kniffen will be encouraging their beaters to start this season with high energy fast paced beating or opt for a more conservative approach.

With such a young team it is extremely exciting to see the additions of Rei Brodeur and Ryan Hsu, a beating pair from the University of Michigan, should turn some heads this season. With Hsu being the speedster combined with Brodeur’s positioning and awareness this pair’s development will be a storyline to watch this season. Another rookie is Aakash Srinivasan who plays for Purdue quidditch, an unofficial program that hasnt competed since 2016/2017- but this could be a huge first in jumpstarting the program back into official play. Srinivasan, a listed keeper, will be at his best playing behind hoops as a wing quaffle player and his instinctual defense will help Detroit throughout the summer. 

Minneapolis is a team composed mostly of returning players (19 returners), and Detroit has more new players on their roster (20 new players) than Minneapolis has returners. The Monarchs have the advantage in team chemistry as well as past results going into this weekend’s games, however, Detroit knows the team they will be playing against and the same can’t necessarily be said for Minneapolis. Although the Monarchs swept the Innovators in 2021, game two finished with a next goal wins situation. With all this in mind, Detroit taking a game from Minneapolis this weekend is certainly not out of the question. 

Prediction: 3-0 Minneapolis