After watching Northern Highlands win a state championship from the sidelines last season, sophomore Joey Boccio took the Highlanders' opening face-off on Dec. 10 against West Morris.

The play marked the end of a year-and-a-half-long journey back from a brain tumor halting his hockey career.

"It meant a lot to me," Boccio said. "I just wanted to enjoy the moment but then the game is happening and you have to refocus."

Northern Highlands coach Brent Beswick is quick to explain that while the first-game starting nod was symbolic for what Boccio went through to get back on the ice, his placement on the team has very much been earned.

"He's a Highlander through and through," Beswick said. "He worked his butt off to get back there and I don't think anyone couldn't appreciate what he had been through to get there."

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A year without hockey

In April 2023, Boccio was an eighth grader looking forward to continuing his hockey career in high school at Northern Highlands.

When Boccio suddenly began having a seizure in his home, his mother called 911 and he was taken to Valley Hospital in Ridgewood. There, doctors discovered that a mass had developed on his brain.

Further tests and doctor visits sent Boccio to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, where the mass was identified as a glioma. A glioma, a tumor that originates from cells that support and protect nerves, is the most common form of primary brain tumor, making up for roughly one-third of all types of brain tumors.

"It was really about the recovery," Boccio said. "There was no pain during the process, but we had to be careful recovering so that I could get back to normal."

As Boccio endured testing and was unable to play hockey last winter, he was presented with his Northern Highlands hockey jersey. Boccio had been playing hockey within the Highlands Hockey Association since he was 5 years old.

"We knew he couldn't be out there with us, but he was a part of our team," coach Jason Beswick said. "We wanted him to know we were in his corner. We hoped that it would give him a boost."

Testing revealed that Boccio's tumor was non-cancerous, and a procedure was done to remove the mass safely. After healing from the procedure, Boccio was able to resume normal activities with check ups every three months.

"I couldn't play last year, but I wanted to still be involved with the team," Boccio said. "I tried to go to as many games as I could and be around the team as much as possible."

Getting back on the ice

Boccio watched last season as the Highlanders won their third state championship at Prudential Center, taking the Public state title. He was among the returning players who helped raise the state championship banner to the rafters of Sport-O-Rama in Monsey, N.Y. earlier this season.

"It's really surreal," Boccio said. "You don't often get to have moments like those in your life too often. Being able to be out there meant a lot."

Now back on the ice, Boccio admits he's still coming along in terms of getting back to his normal self.

Northern Highlands is currently experiencing a youth movement. Boccio is among 18 freshmen or sophomores currently on the Highlanders roster, still learning to gel.

"It helps me ease back in knowing that the team is pretty young as a whole," Boccio said. "It's not just me coming along. We are coming along together as a team and that helps with our bond as a group."

Boccio has no restrictions for his first season with the Highlanders. His playing time is growing and he's emerged as an emotional leader for a team still among the best in Bergen County.

"Kids quietly look up to him," Beswick said. "When things get hard, you think about what Joey went through just to be here and it puts the game into perspective."

A marketing plan under development for northern New Jersey’s Highlands aims to separate the region from the state's long-standing stereotypes: mobsters, fist pumps and reality-show drama.

The branding effort, led by national place-branding firm North Star and funded by the state's Highlands Council, is focusing on fresh air, open space and a break from leisure as usual. Firm officials said the region could be a draw in the short term to licensed, and mostly urban, drivers seeking a short-term escape.

Rather than the cliches cemented by legendary meme generators "The Sopranos," "Jersey Shore" and "The Real Housewives of New Jersey," the Highlands can be positioned as offering fresh cultural, agricultural and recreational discoveries in a unique yet accessible natural retreat, they said.

The ultimate goal, according to officials from both the firm and the Highlands Council, is to generate tourism to help boost a regional economy depressed in some ways by the strict development restrictions in place to protect the region's watershed and preserve its natural resources.

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“The belief is that tourism can provide that economic viability,” said Will Ketchum, CEO of North Star.

Still, the push for tourism comes with complications. As it stands, the "Highlands" of Northern New Jersey are not very well-known compared to some of the obvious competition: the Hudson Valley, the Catskills and the Poconos.

The region covers parts of 88 municipalities in seven counties, cutting northwest from Hunterdon County through to Bergen County. However, most of the counties and municipalities are non-conforming when it comes to the Highlands Regional Master Plan, the implementation arm of the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act of 2004 that helped define the region in New Jersey. Therefore, most of its towns are not natural promoters.

Search for "New Jersey Highlands" on Google and the first thing it notes is that Highlands is a municipality in northern Monmouth County, adjacent to the borough of Atlantic Highlands. Neither town is in the Highlands Region of New Jersey, however.

Another complication is that the Highlands Region goes beyond New Jersey. A geologic formation, the greater Highlands Region covers about 5,500 square miles from Connecticut deep into Pennsylvania. Less than a quarter of the federally recognized Highlands Region is in New Jersey, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service records.

Highlands Council Planning Manager Maryjude Haddock-Weiler, who recommended the branding and marketing plan to the council in early 2024, said then that New Jersey's Highlands could benefit from a firm identity.

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"When you think about the Pinelands, you have a specific image in mind. Even when you think about the Meadowlands, you probably have an image," she said "But when you think about the Highlands, it's really hard to grasp what it is we are."

Highlands Council members recognize the contradiction in the Highlands Act's own policies. The act's strict environmental regulations prohibit the expansion of sewer service areas in much of the region, limiting the development of new infrastructure to support tourism, including hotels. Many municipalities in the region have also been less than accommodating to bed and breakfasts and other short-term rentals, with many introducing policies amid their boom in the past decade to restrict them in the name of protecting neighborhood safety and suburban tranquility.

Highlands Council members in January discussed the possibility of lobbying efforts on local governments to push for rezoning to support the tourism industry in appropriate areas. However, the plan for now is to have people come, but not necessarily stay, according to North Star officials. In the near term, the focus will be on day trips or short stays to build awareness and demand, Ketchum said.

"There is Crystal Springs [Resort in Vernon] and places like that, but there just not enough of them in our view," he said.

The branding effort stems from the 2021 New Jersey Highlands Economic Sustainability Plan, which called for a unified regional identity to drive economic growth, according to Highlands Council records. The branding and marketing plan was expected to cost about $130,000, but the council approved up to $200,000 in total spending to account for any additional work it may want done and other expenses, records show.

The contract was awarded and work began in the spring of 2024, with North Star working alongside the Highlands Council and the Economic Sustainability County Coalition to gather background information and organize outreach efforts, records show. After that, the firm moved on to conduct community surveys, cultural asset assessments and interviews with residents, farmers, business owners and local officials to capture the character of the Highlands and shape a brand.