When he first started playing hockey, Mason Caruso would attend the learn-to-play practice sessions and come off the ice in tears.
“My mom asked me why I was crying and it was because I wanted to be a goalie,” he said. “I didn’t want to be a skater, I wanted to be in that net. I always had that mentality. When I was doing the learn-to-play I just wanted to block a shot, do the butterfly move. It really is a fun position.”
Caruso got his wish soon enough and for the past 11 years he has been a netminder for club teams such as the Mercer Chiefs, Virtua Hockey, the Titans and the Minutemen. The Steinert senior just completed his fourth season playing for the Hamilton Township Nottingham-Hamilton-Steinert tri-op team, for which he set a program record with 1,002 saves his junior season and 2,274 career saves.
Caruso is the latest in a line of stellar goalies from Steinert, which included Trevor Malik and Troy Callahan. During his first two seasons Mason shared time with Callahan and took over full-time last year.
“Troy was always friendly with me; he would give me advice from time to time,” Caruso said. “I always had the knowledge of goaltending from playing club hockey. But he was always supportive, never rude. I was completely fine backing him up for two years to see what high school was like.”
Caruso began skating at age 4 and got the hockey bug at age 7 when his mom took him to a New Jersey Devils-Tampa Bay Lightning game.
“I was playing baseball and hockey but from that point on I was just really into the sport,” he said. “I think Martin Brodeur was playing that game, but mostly I just remember they played Tampa Bay. (Brodeur) was a big inspiration. My number 30 is based on him.”
Caruso put up numbers that would make the Hall of Fame goalie proud as he faced a torrent of shots game after game. And yet his save percentage was over .900 all but one year, and even then it was .897. He finished with a career save percentage of .904 and was at .906 this past season after facing 1,083 shots.
Despite Hamilton Co-op’s porous defense and struggling offense, the team lost just four times by the 10-goal mercy rule.
“If it wasn’t for him there would have been a lot more games that would have happened,” coach John Patterson said. “We have a really young team and we had a really young defense. We have freshmen and sophomores up and down our lineup.
“We give up tons and tons of shots. A lot of those are second, third, fourth chances. Are some of those gonna go in? Yeah. There’s good hockey players in the CVC, everybody’s gonna get sniped once in a while. But Mason pulls our fat out of the fire so much, it’s a bit of a blessing having a goalie like that cleaning up other deficiencies we might have.”
It was a rough year for the township team as it finished 1-16. It would have been easy for Caruso to just throw his gloves in the air and give up.
But he isn’t wired that way.
“It was always the mentality of ‘I’m basically playing to prove who I am and show that I’m not a one-win goalie,’” he said. “I always just play to better myself. It was also a big part of having fun.
“Going into games, especially this season, I knew it wasn’t always a guaranteed win but I would always do the best I could and I wouldn’t give up any game. If I looked like a quitter it would represent the team as well. I don’t want those kids, with their future in hockey, to be quitters at all. That’s now how hockey players are.”
Patterson was not surprised to see the way Caruso reacted to the adversity of defeat.
“He’s a competitor,” the coach said. “There’s definitely games where I’m sure it wears on you. He’s captain for a reason, he’s got that mentality of ‘Guys I’m gonna lift you up. If you make a mistake I’m gonna do everything I can to eliminate that mistake.’ He wants guys to know he’s there and has their back.”
It all stems from a labor of love.
Caruso’s first goalie gear came when he got a set of blue pads from the Mercer Chiefs and his mom bought him gloves, a stick and a bald eagle helmet similar to that worn by Blackhawks goalie Ed Belfour.
“I still remember that set so much,” he said. “I remember just starting out I was decent. I was just trying to have fun, trying to learn.”
And did he like it right away?
“I think if I didn’t like it I wouldn’t still be playing,” Caruso said. “So I’m pretty sure I loved it.”
He immersed himself in it, going to Z-Tending training at Mercer rink and attending camps in the summer.
“It was always a chance to have practice,” Caruso said. “It’s really good for you as a player, especially a goalie.”
Mason learned his lessons well, and became a human backboard for Hamilton Co-op over the past four years.
“He tracks the puck well, he’s got great movements; he’s super quick,” Patterson said. “I don’t think you can be the level he’s at and have the ability he does without being sharp mentally all the time. I don’t know if it’s necessarily a break-down-film kind of thing. But he definitely knows where guys like to shoot.”
He also knows where his teammates should shoot at times.
“A lot of times in the locker room he’ll talk to our forwards about what he sees with the other goalie,” Patterson noted. “He’ll be like ‘Hey this guy is slow to get down or slow putting his hands down.’ He’s giving all our guys tips on how they can potentially score on the other goalie. He’s seeing the entirety of the ice and the entirety of the game, not just the shots coming in.”
When it comes to playing goalie, Caruso is a true student of the craft. He understands what it takes mentally and physically.
When it comes to the athleticism aspect, he said “A big part is hand-eye coordination, really following that puck. Staying centered is also a huge point, Knowing your surroundings and skating.
“People don’t think goalies are good skaters, but you have to be one of the best skaters on the ice,” he continued. “Our skating is so much different than offensive and defensive guys. We have way different pushes and slides. It’s really an athletic ability to play goalie.”
It also takes strong mental toughness, especially when one is seeing over 50 shots per game, as Caruso did on a steady basis.
“It’s about your level of competition and having the mentality of worrying about the next shot,” he said. “If you focus on that goal you let in then it’s gonna get to your head. If it gets to your head it gives you a disadvantage in the game. It can also affect you after the game and you beat yourself down.
“It’s a lot of just how hard you work, how much time you want to put into it, how much you’re battling just to save that puck. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done all I could to keep the puck out of the net and all I can do is not worry about letting in a goal. Just shake it off.”
The sheer career numbers he put up is an indication of just how well Caruso could shake things off. On Jan. 22, against Nutley at Mercer rink, he recorded his iconic 2,000th save.
“My freshman year I would never think by the time I’m a senior I’d have over 2,000 saves,” Caruso said. “It’s unreal. I’m proud of myself for reaching that mark and never backing down. I always had doubts about the team and if I wanted to keep playing. But I knew in the end it’d be worth it and making a milestone and having fun was the best part of the journey.”
Unlike some talented players who would forego high school hockey to play strictly club — especially when their team wins just one game — Caruso was loyal to his township teammates.
“I grew up around these kids, I’m meeting new people, I’m still getting good practices, I’m playing with kids of all different ages,” he said. “When you see all your friends in the stands congratulating you after the game that’s a fun part of it.”
Caruso is now preparing for lacrosse season with Steinert, although he does not play goalie there.
“Noooo, I need a break,” he said.
After that, he’s looking to play high level club hockey in college. He was asked to apply to the University of North Carolina by its coach, and has gotten interest from good academic schools like Lehigh, West Chester, Pittsburgh and Delaware.
“They’re all club programs,” Caruso said. “If you want to play NCAA hockey you have to do one or two years of juniors and I don’t see that being worth it.”
Grades should not be a problem for Mason, who has a 3.9 GPA and 4.5 weighted GPA.
“I’m a smart cookie,” he said with a laugh. “Not smart enough to avoid facing 2,000 shots, but at least it didn’t dumb me down so I’m glad about that.”
