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Minnesota Freeze running hot |
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Written by Wayne Kraska
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Thursday, 18 October 2007 |
USFooty Nationals 2007
The Minnesota Freeze continued their steady rise to stardom by taking out the Div 2 National title in Louisville. In only their third complete year of competition the Freeze certainly are a success story already with a Championship trophy in 2005 in Div 3 then a great runners-up performance in Div 2 last year in Las Vegas.
This year they went one better with a great win after a fantastic tournament to take the Div 2 title beating another improving team the Seattle Grizzlies. The Minnesota team make no bones about it much of their success comes from their leadership both on and off the field. Jason Becker has been a star for the Freeze and certainly came through in Louisville and off the field President Dale Williams has overseen a huge and successful recruiting drive to see over 80 players playing local footy in Minnesota in 2007.
At the Nationals on the Saturday the Freeze had two comfortable wins against Nashville and Nth Carolina, On Sunday morning they were tested after half time by Atlanta but came out of game with a handy win giving them the three wins needed to make the final later in the afternoon. Seattle were to be their opponents who had also gone through their pool with three wins and the tip was both sides were evenly matched. This certainly was the case with a low scoring game on the big dusty main field. The running game of Minnesota which had been evident in the three pool games was certainly still noticeable and making the most of their opportunities the Freeze came away for a slender but well deserved win. So in three years the Freeze have built themselves a nice solid base, with a local competition that appears to be going ahead each year. There is much to like about the future of footy in Minnesota. 
Photo courtesy: Cirsten Paine |
