USHL Muskegon Lumberjacks

Lumberjacks' Talented Forward Cody Croal Is Starting to Find the Magic Scoring Touch

Published on December 8, 2022 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Muskegon Lumberjacks News Release


Cody Croal picked a perfect game to start scoring like he can.

The Muskegon Lumberjacks were in Dubuque to play the Fighting Saints last Sunday after a pair of disappointing losses to Chicago on Friday and Saturday.

Everyone on the team, including Croal, was dead tired from traveling and playing two games in two nights, but it was pretty important for the Jacks to get a win.

Croal got the team rolling right away when he scored a power play goal 13:44 of the first period, giving Muskegon a 1-0 lead.

"I just snuck behind their defenseman on our breakout during the power play, then I had a breakaway," Croal said. "I just got up some speed, went from a backhand to a forehand and put it in the top left corner."

The game was tied 2-2 early in the second period when Croal struck again, this time with a shorthanded goal.

The Jacks were down two players on a Dubuque power play, then Muskegon's Jake Richard got out of the penalty box and jumped into the play.

Richard got the puck and suddenly he and Croal broke in together against the Dubuque goalie, with no defensemen in the way.

"Richard kind of picked up the puck and faked a shot, then moved it over to me and I just one-timed it in," Croal said.

The Jacks went on to win 7-4, Croal had his first multi-goal game and his best overall weekend of the season.

He also had a goal in Chicago on Saturday night and finished the weekend with three goals and one assist. That brought his season total to seven goals and nine assists with a lot of games left to play.

More importantly, Croal's success helped the Lumberjacks salvage three of a possible six points over the weekend - two points for the win in Dubuque and one for an overtime loss in Chicago on Friday.

Those three points left the Jacks tied with Team USA for second place in the USHL's Eastern Conference heading into their Friday and Saturday night's home games.

"If we would have lost we would have been in fifth place, but we won and we're tied for second," Croal said abut the incredibly tight conference standings."It was a huge win for us. We were all pretty tired, but the bus ride home was fun."

Nobody is surprised when Croal scores a goal. He established a reputation as a big point producer while playing at Northstar Christian Academy in his native Minnesota over the past four years.

During his senior season in 2021-22, he piled up an amazing 42 goals and 59 assists in 55 games. In the two prior seasons he totaled 54 goals and 64 assists.

Those numbers convinced the Lumberjacks to draft him prior to last season, even though they knew he would be going back to Northstar for his senior season.

"That was actually pretty funny," said Croal, one of the fastest players in the Jacks' lineup. "I didn't think I was going to get drafted, since my coach told teams that I was coming back to high school. I was shocked and excited when it happened."

Croal came to Muskegon and played a handful of games with the Jacks last season, after the prep school season was over, just to get a taste of the USHL.

"The puck movement is a lot faster, there are a lot of smarter players, and they are bigger and stronger," Croal said. "Those first couple of games last season I played kind of scared. It took a couple games to get used to it."

Croal reported to the Lumberjacks for full-tome duty this season and has been getting a lot of ice time. He knew his goals would start coming, but he was stuck at four for awhile and was not happy about it.

""I've just been struggling to put the puck in the net." he said. "It started coming this weekend, and it felt good.

"I think I've been a bit unlucky. A lot of goalies were stuffing me and it got a little frustrating, but last season I went five or six games without a point and my coach at the time told me not to let it get to me. I've just kind of stuck with that."

The irony is that Croal enters this weekend's home games as the Lumberjacks' leading scorer. The team's fop three point producers - Richard, Ethan Whitcomb and Gavin McCarthy - just left on Sunday to play for the American team in the World Junior A Classic tournament in Canada and will miss the next five games.

That leaves the remaining players under a lot of pressure to pick up the slack, but Croal said the Lumberjacks have plenty of talent and confidence.

"It's definitely going to be hard playing without them," he said. "We have to figure out how to battle through it and get some points before Christmas break. I don't think we're too worried about it, though. We're a pretty deep team and I think we're going to do well."

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