About Us The Minnesota Freeze is an Australian Rules Football Club based in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul. The team is comprised of players from various backgrounds, ages, and nationalities. We currently have three local teams that scrimmage against each other throughout the season in a Metro League - The Bushrangers, The Norsemen, and The Ice Dogs. We also represent Minnesota at the national level in the United States Australian Football League (USAFL) by competing in the Mid American Australian Football League (MAAFL). Once a year all teams around the nation are invited to compete in the USAFL tournament to determine champion teams in 4 divisions. Club leadership President: Dale Williams Vice President: Chris Secrest Head Coach: Jason Becker Head Umpire: Steve Arnott Treasurer: Tony Davis Secretary: Mary Evans Board member: Eric Perry Board Member: Jim Dykstra USAFL Womens Delegate: Kathryn Hogg Future Goals We are currently focused on these areas: - To grow the sport locally with the aim of expanding our Metro Footy competition into enough teams to form a local league. - Increasing our ability to be a competitive team in the championship division of the MAAFL in 2009 and beyond. - Sending a competitive team each year to represent Minnesota at the USAFL National tournament. - Developing the sport for junior and women teams. - Conducting events and activities to promote a friendly and social club atmosphere. Historical Timeline 2008 The Freeze accepted the invitation to join the Mid American Australian Football League (MAAFL), and after a disrupted start to the season by weather, an unfavorable schedule, and some unfortunate player losses, the Freeze found themselves with a winless start at 0-4. Motivational wins in the final two games added some respect to the record at 2-4, but earned a number 5 ranking in division 2 for the Colorado Springs National tournament. Always a threat when it comes to the big games, The Freeze showed they can never be discounted, and with comfortable wins over Nashville and Las Vegas their only loss went to the eventual champions The Seattle Grizzlies. Once again the club fielded two teams with a team in the reserve division, and although it was winless with a 0-3 record it was a great learning experience for all the players and a statement that the club was still one of the largest and still thriving. 2008 Media Articles "A foothold for footy" - By Torleif Sorenson - source; The Metropolitan Online 2007 Taking away great experience from previous season, The Freeze rolled up their sleeves and went to work in 2007. Not content with just being competitive, the team worked hard all year to redeem their 2006 championship final loss. With away wins over Kansas City and Milwaukee, a home win against Milwaukee, and only one loss - against the number 1 team in the country; Denver, the team went into the Louisville National tournament with a 3-1 record and a number 1 ranking in division 2. Not letting the odds-makers down, The Freeze comfortably cruised through their pool play by defeating; Nashville, North Carolina, and Atlanta, to set up a final against the number 2 seed The Seattle Grizzlies. In what turned out to be a fast, entertaining, yet low scoring affair, The Freeze ran out eventual winners by 10 points to claim their second National title. In addition to their division 2 success was the incredible growth the club showed by being one of the few teams to bring two teams to the tournament. The Freeze also submitted a team in the reserve division and with a 2-1 record for the weekend narrowly lost the championship by percentage points only. 2007 Media Articles Sheedy thinks "Minnesota has best young talent" - source; World Footy News 2006 2006 saw another exciting year unfold for the Freeze with comfortable home wins over division 1 team Milwaukee, and division 3 team Kansas City. A hard fought loss on the road at Milwaukee did not hurt our rankings either in our preparation for Nationals held in Las Vegas. Coming into that weekend the Freeze were considered underdogs, but went on to surprise everyone by going undefeated in their bracket to set up a division 2 championship showdown with the experienced Baltimore/Washington Eagles. Unfortunately the Freeze came up short on the day but walked away proud runners-up. 2005 After exposing those players to the national level of competition, the interest generated saw further growth in player numbers the next year. For the first time the Freeze was able to send a full squad to the 2005 Nationals in Milwaukee. After a fantastic effort by all the players we were able to run out winners and were crowned division 3 champions. 2004 With the welcome addition of one Sam Gason to Minnesota in 2004 a more concerted effort was established to focus on the development of two metro footy teams. We developed a more formal training program and took the opportunity to play with Milwaukee in our first competitive games. This lead to us being able to send six players to the 2004 Nationals in Atlanta. 1998 Founded in 1999, it was originally focused on informal kick-to-kicks, but the seed was planted and The Freeze name reserved. Who knew Tony Davis' prophetic words "wouldn't it be cool to have a Minnesota team" would come true. Contact us for more info