New Jersey
Taste of bigger stage leaves one of N.J. hockey’s top prospects with plenty of drive
Mason Hriczov, one of New Jersey’s top goalie prospects, had to shrug off thoughts on his sub-par performance, by his standards, at one of the most important camps of his career.
He attended four camps overall over a span of four months last summer and the journey took him to Buffalo, Omaha and Ontario.
All that camp exposure was a result of Hriczov’s getting drafted by two leagues and receiving an invitation to USA Hockey’s annual development camps.
In April, Hriczov was selected by the Kitchener Rangers in the 13th round, 262nd overall, in the Ontario Hockey League draft. The OHL is one of the three preeminent junior leagues in Canada that make up the Canadian Hockey League and is a major feeder to NCAA Division 1 programs and the NHL draft.
Just a few weeks later, in May, he was picked by the Omaha Lancers in the seventh round, 104th overall, in the United States Hockey League draft, which is the United States’ equivalent to the CHL.
There were serious options in front of him to weigh.
“Hockey’s getting real at this point. That was the first summer I took it very seriously,” he said. “I locked in. It’s a lot, but you just gotta push through it, I guess. You gotta love it. You just gotta play your best, every time, going to camps. Scouts are watching.”
The junior attended rookie camp in Kitchener not long after being drafted in May. USHL camp in Omaha followed in June. Then came the National U16 Camp for USA Hockey in Buffalo at the end of June before his first full training camp back in Kitchener in August.
“It was a lot of games, some practices,” Hriczov said of the U.S. development camp. “It’s great competition. It’s some of the best kids who didn’t make the national team, and guys have to work. A lot of scouts there. There were games I don’t think I played my best, but you just gotta work.”
Players from the National U16 Camp were chosen to play for the United States U17 Select Team that participates in the annual Four Nations Tournament every summer.
Hriczov didn’t make the cut.
“After that camp, I was like, I’m going to the gym every day. I put on a lot of muscle. I put on a lot of size,” he said. “When I went to rookie camp for Kitchener, they told me, you gotta get bigger. I kind of waited until after USA camp. I didn’t get to make the cut and I felt I just gotta take off now. And that’s what I did.”
Hriczov doesn’t like to remember bad things on the ice and loves forgetting about them. He kept that experience at the USA camp in the back of his mind, but he went straight to work. He had roughly seven weeks to make a plan and go on attack to make a strong showing at camp with Kitchener in late August.
All of the work added about 15 pounds to his 6’2” frame. Hriczov had reason to believe the team only wanted to keep him around for a cursory look at camp before sending him home. Hriczov was determined to make things go another way.
Once he hit the ice, he put on a show.
“Going up there was great. I go up there, play a great couple games. They tell me you’re going to stay for the week.” Hriczov said. “They had no intentions of keeping me, but I played, worked my butt off and got to stay there for the week and (then) they’re like, ‘We’re going to keep you for preseason. You did really good. We weren’t going to keep you after the first couple of days.’ So, I had a big summer.”
He wasn’t going to be the team’s starting goalie, or the backup, but his performance at training camp helped Hriczov make key moves up the depth chart for Kitchener. He is now next in line after the backup goalie, should anything happen. It almost became the best of both worlds for the time being. He can jump to Kitchener should he be needed and he returned to New Jersey for the 2025-26 season.
Hriczov still gets ample playing time with the Woodbridge Wolfpack U16 AAA team and the Morristown-Beard team welcomed him back with open arms.
After a whirlwind of a summer, the star junior still juggles playing club and high school hockey and the prospect of being called up to the OHL hovers above his head on a daily basis. For some, that might be too much to handle, but not for Hriczov.
“It’s great. They’re always watching you. The goalie coach (Jordan DeKort) is telling me, he’s always watching me. Just got to bring your A game every day. It’s great going up there, it’s fun. Kids are great, coaches are great, just got to enjoy it.”
In four games with Morristown-Beard so far this season, Hriczov owns a stellar .943 save percentage and also has a pair of assists.
He’s already one of the top goaltenders in the state. Now, he has a chip on his shoulder and that’s been bad news for everyone else in the Mennen Division and could mean the same for the Non-Public bracket once the state tournament rolls around.
“I think it’s been good. I mean, I think I could do better for club but I’m doing really well right now,” he said. “I have high expectations here for Mo-Beard, so I just got to live up to them.”
It’s been nearly a decade and a half since the Brooklyn Nets moved out of New Jersey.
The organization has completely revamped its vibe since switching states, ditching the red, white and blue look for a very basic black and white colorway.
The Nets have also intermittently changed the colors of the banners hanging up in the Barclays Center from red, white and blue to black and white, much to the chagrin of traditional Nets fans.
Despite the Nets now playing in a bigger market and being far removed from their days in the Garden State, some fans seem to hope for the Nets to make their return across the river. New Jersey governor Mikie Sherrill was asked about the matter.
“I mean, would I support it? I ask about it all the time,” Sherrill said. “I love the idea. So, I have been pressing for that. I haven’t made a lot of headway yet; you know, maybe in my second 100 days.
“But I do think there is some work being done for some — I don’t know if I’m allowed to say too much about it — but some people are working on some different sports coming into the Rock.”
As time went on, the Nets eventually started to embrace more of their New Jersey roots, which started when they rocked a clean tie-dye jersey from the 90s during the 2020-21 season.
The next season, the Nets followed it up with uniforms commemorating their run in the 2000s, when the team got to the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003 and endlessly broke the ESPN top 10 with each crazy Jason Kidd assist and Vince Carter dunk.
It’s fitting that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the latter of whom grew up in New Jersey as a Nets fan, got to rock these uniforms, helping boost the popularity of the New Jersey brand to a wide array of fans.
True Nets fans embraced the Continental Airlines Arena/Izod Center and the swamps of East Rutherford, getting to witness a winning basketball team for a fraction of the cost of the team mired in dysfunction that happened to play their home games at “The World’s Most Famous Arena.”
Not many marquee free agents would have signed up to play in New Jersey, but real fans remember the good times in the swamps, especially with Sly the Fox as the team’s mascot. Those times deserve to be remembered properly.
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ATLANTIC COUNTY, N.J. (WPVI) — Drivers heading to the shore on Friday afternoon saw slow-moving traffic for several miles coming off the Walt Whitman bridge, but many travelers said the start of the holiday weekend was smoother than they anticipated.
Aldara Madden, who was traveling with her friend Elana Maser, said the trip moved faster than she expected.
“I was expecting it to take a lot longer,” she said.
Maser added that they left school early to avoid delays.
“My mom and I do that every year and then we always stop here as our little pre-down the shore,” she said.
Others shared similar experiences.
“I’m coming from Bucks County, so I was worried there was gonna be some traffic but it really wasn’t bad at all,” said Erin McFadden of Churchville, who was headed to Ocean City.
AAA reported that while slightly more people are traveling by car this year compared to last, 2026 is projected to have the lowest year-over-year travel growth rate in more than a decade, excluding the steep drop seen in 2020 during the pandemic.
The organization attributes the slowdown largely to concerns over rising prices.
“Gas is ridiculously expensive and I think all the time before going anywhere these days,” said Debbie Maser of Philadelphia. “But this is our happy place and nothing can keep us away.”
A dreary weekend forecast may also be influencing travel patterns.
“I was thinking that, I wonder if there’ll be less congestion on the roads because of the weather,” said Kyra Wolin of Massachusetts. “It’s not looking to be too good this weekend with the rain.”
Still, many shore-bound travelers said tradition outweighs any concerns about rain or crowds.
“No not at all. You go down. You get it done,” said George Miller of Lansdale.
Eric Wolin of Massachusetts agreed: “Never, never. Margate’s a special place for us.”
As the unofficial start of summer begins, travelers said they remain committed to kicking off the season in their favorite spots, not letting rain, traffic, or high prices keep them away.
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This story is part of the WHYY News Climate Desk, bringing you news and solutions for our changing region.
From the Poconos to the Jersey Shore to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, what do you want to know about climate change? What would you like us to cover? Get in touch.
As summer begins, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill is urging residents to limit lawn watering, and hand water flowers and shrubs as a drought warning continues. The warning, in place since December 2025, could turn into a drought emergency if conditions do not improve. The state has suffered eight consecutive months of below-normal rainfall, according to officials.
“New Jersey is experiencing a chronic water supply drought, the scale of which we haven’t seen in more than twenty years,” state geologist Steven Domber said in a statement issued earlier this month. “The indicators that we track closely are showing persistently dry conditions. With uncertainty for rainfall in the coming months, we need residents to conserve water today, to ensure we have enough to sustain our needs over the summer.”
The Department of Environmental Protection uses a variety of indicators to determine drought levels, including precipitation, stream flows, reservoir levels, ground water levels and demand.
In addition to the last two months, officials say, the state “experienced below normal precipitation for 20 of the last 24 months since September 2024,” despite heavy snowfall events this past winter that helped restore reservoirs in North Jersey.
“While we saw a little relief over the winter, New Jersey is feeling the effects of nearly two years of below-normal precipitation,” Sherrill said in a statement earlier this month. She urged residents to voluntarily conserve water.
New Jersey state climatologist David Robinson said that since precipitation has been below normal for most of the last 24 months, the recent winter weather did not provide enough water to help restore streams and groundwater.
Should a drought emergency be declared, mandatory water restrictions would be put in place. The last drought emergency lasted almost a year, between March 2002 and January 2003.
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