The freshmen class for 2012 is starting to take shape for the University of Maine men’s ice hockey team.

Ryan Lomberg, last week, signed his National Letter of Intent to attend the University of Maine next season.

“It feels awesome to finally be official,” said Ryan Lomberg on signing his National Letter of Intent. “I pretty much had my mind made after I visited Maine for the first time. I fell in love with the school and the atmosphere.”

“There is no other atmosphere like it in college hockey.”

The 16-year-old rookie forward of the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL has four goals and five assists in 13 games.

“It has been awesome,” Lomberg said of playing in the USHL. “All my teammates have been awesome and they have been making it a really good experience for me. They have helped a lot in my development.”

“The best part of this league is I will be playing against players in two or three years at the next level that I am playing against now.”

Lomberg has been outspoken about getting his education and playing at a high level, going through the NCAA route compared to the Ontario Hockey League.

“Both are awesome leagues,” he said. “The OHL definitely has some of the top junior players in the world, but the USHL and the NCAA are also starting to attract those top junior players in the world. My education is very important to me, so that’s why I chose this route so I can get my four years of education and my degree. If I am good enough I make it, great. If not, I have something to fall back on.”

His Ontario Hockey League rights are held by the Peterborough Petes.

With a December 9 birth date, he will spend most of the first semester on campus next year as a 17-year-old.

“It will be definitely crazy, playing against older guys at 17,” he said. “It will be a huge year for me as my first year at the University of Maine will be my draft year (2013 eligible) in the NHL.”

“It’s a pretty big positive to play at that level, at my age and my draft year. I think it will help my draft status because I will be playing against more older and skillful guys who have been playing college hockey for one or two years.”

Also scheduled to join the 2012 class at this point is Dylan Gareau, Cam Brown, Matt Morris, and Swann Boisvert.

Gareau’s hot start in the Eastern Junior Hockey League with the New Jersey Hitmen earned the forward a trade to the USHL to the Cedar Rapids Rough Rider last week. He had seven goals and nine assists in 16 games with the Hitmen. He joined the Rough Riders this weekend where he appeared in one game and recording no points.

“He visited Maine again (last) weekend and plans to attend in the fall of 2012,” said New Jersey Hitmen head coach Toby Harris.

Cam Brown is in his second season with the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs. The 18-year-old forward has eight goals and 16 assists in 20 games. He was named the EJHL Offensive Player of the Week on November 16.

Matt Morris, a goaltender with the Dubuque Fighting Saints in the USHL, has a 3-2-0 record with a 1.73GAA and a .923 save percentage this season. He still hasn’t returned from an injury which he suffered in October.

The earliest he will be back from the lower body injury is the first week in December.

Swann Boisvert, a winger with the Pembroke Lumber Kings of the Central Junior Hockey League, has nine goals and 18 assists in 27 games this season.

Devin Shore, a 17-year-old who has 11 goals and 12 assists in 18 games with the Whitby Fury of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, is still undecided on when he’s entering the University of Maine.

Devin has only verbally committed to UMaine,” said Whitby general manager Frank Robinson. “He has not made up his mind (on) 2012 or 2013. He is on the “NHL to watch list” now so he has lots of decisions to make depending on the draft.”

He was named to the all-tournament team at the World Junior “A” Challenge where he had two goals and four assists in six games for Canada East which won the silver medal.