The state of Massachusetts is loading up on Bruins.

Austin forward CJ Smith recently became the third Bruin to put his hockey future out East as he made his commitment to play at Division I University of Massachusetts-Lowell for a partial athletic scholarship.

Smith, who plans on playing junior hockey for at least one more year and maybe two, will have a chance to play with former Bruin Christian Folin at UML and he will play against his current teammate Brandon Wahlin, who will play for UMass next season, when he gets to the college level.

“I’ve talked to Christian a lot this year and he loves it out there. It’s a great community and they have a great coaching staff,” Smith said. “Brandon’s excited and we’ll get to play each other for sure.”

Smith is from Des Moines, Iowa and he has attended high school in Austin the past two years while playing for the Bruins. He ranks third on the Bruins with 59 points (30 goals and 29 assists) this season.

“CJ’s second half of the season has really put him at an elite level and now he can just focus on playing hockey and having fun,” Bruins head coach Chris Tok.

Smith had two offers from other schools, but he couldn’t pass up on UML. Especially since they happen to be playing in the Frozen Four this year as they will play April 11 against Yale.

“That’s huge. I wanted to go out East and getting an offer from them was a pretty big deal,” Smith said. “It’s rewarding and it still hasn’t really set in yet that it’s happening.”

The Bruins will host Minot in the first two games of a first round NAHL Central Division playoff series Friday and Saturday at 7:05 p.m.

Smith has 43 goals and 44 assists in his 121 career games with Austin.