Ryan Lohin and Tyler Wall, slated to play at UMass Lowell for 2016-2017, were selected in the seventh round of the National Hockey League draft on June 25. (Photos courtesy of Kat Stiennon/Kat’s Photography and Mark Malone/The Daily News)

Fans of the UMass Lowell hockey team have even more of a reason to be excited about the rising freshman class. Forward Ryan Lohin and goaltender Tyler Wall were selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Rangers, respectively, on the second day of the National Hockey League draft.

Both players were selected in the seventh round of the draft; Wall went 174th overall while Lohin was picked as the 208th overall prospect. Wall and Lohin will be one of four players on the roster who have been drafted by the NHL. The other two are Evan Campbell, a rising senior, and Garrett Metcalf, an incoming freshman goaltender.

Lohin, a 19-year-old from Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, will be coming to UMass Lowell after playing for three seasons in the United States Hockey League (USHL) with the Madison Capitals and the Waterloo Black Hawks. In that time, he managed to put up 83 points in 122 games.

The 18-year-old Wall is slated to compete for the top goalie spot on the River Hawks in the 2016-2017 season. Wall previously played for Leamington Flyers of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL), and was honored with the Roy Bruhlman award for the Western Conference Rookie of the Year. He is ranked #30 amongst North American goaltending prospects by NHL Central Scouting.

These recent developments are exciting for the River Hawks. They have long been known as a team who isn’t made of superstars, a sentiment which has been expressed by other schools’ coaches and players. Last season, the UMass Lowell roster boasted one player who had been drafted by the NHL: junior forward Evan Campbell, who was selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2013 draft. But with a new group of drafted freshmen, the team has acquired some star power and perhaps some more attention from scouts.