MUSKEGON – Cody Croal picked a perfect game to start picking up his scoring pace.

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

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 in the first period when he scored a power play goal 13:44 in 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.”

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 the 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 kind of 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 of the season and his best oveall weekend, as well.

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 yet 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 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 regarding 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 NorthSsar 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 seasons prior to that, he totaled 54 goals and 64 assists.

Those numbers convinced the Lumberjacks to draft him prior to last season, even though his prep school coach had already announced that 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 were going to start coming, but he was stuck at four for a while and was not happy about it.

“I felt like I had a lot of chances, I felt like the goals were going to come,” he said. “I’ve just been struggling to put the puck in the net. 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 I went through a time last season when I went five or six games without a point. My coach at the time told me not to let it get to me, and 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 their games, but Croal said the Lumberjacks are deep in 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. We’re a pretty deep team and I think we’re going to do well.”