GRAND FORKS — UND forward Cody Croal scored one goal as a freshman. He matched that in the first period of his sophomore season.

The winger from North Branch, Minn., has earned increased ice time early this season, too. He played 14:18 in the series finale against St. Thomas and 14:36 in the series finale against Minnesota — the two highest ice times of his college career.

Last season, he averaged 10:31 per game. So far this season, he's averaging 13:03.

Croal answered a few on-the-ice and off-the-ice questions for the Herald this week.

Q. What did your offseason look like? What were some areas of your game you wanted to develop?

A. I trained in Alexandria (Minn.) at Northstar. The biggest thing for me was just building confidence with the puck, holding onto it a bit longer and making

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