Don’t be surprised to spot Chicago Blackhawks players and coaches wandering through a sea of Edina green in Kuhlman Stadium this fall.

During the Hornets’ first day of team camp on Monday, quarterback Mason West said some of his future hockey teammates may be cooking up a trip to watch him sling passes for the Class 6A football contender.

The Blackhawks selected West, a righthanded center, at No. 29 overall in June’s National Hockey League draft. But West is returning for his senior season of football before he becomes a full-fledged hockey prospect. He plans to play juniors in Fargo this winter, then college hockey at Michigan State.

West and the Hornets hope to first settle unfinished business on the gridiron.

In the 2024 Class 2A state hockey tournament, the All-Minnesota forward and about a dozen of his football teammates — including the Hornets’ leading returning rusher, senior Chase Bjorgaard, in net — got a taste of lifting a championship trophy. The All-Minnesota quarterback wants to do the same in football.

The Hornets, seeking their first state football title, reached the Prep Bowl in 2023 and were edged 28-27 by Centennial. They went 9-3 and lost to eventual Class 6A champion Maple Grove in the state quarterfinals last fall, with West finishing the season 178-for-244 for 2,592 passing yards and 37 touchdowns.

“We’ve been really close,” West said. “[A hockey title] has always been a goal of mine, but it’s also been a goal to win a football one.”

The default plan, said Edina football head coach Jason Potts, was for West to play one more year of football, unless word came saying otherwise. But as the 6-6, 218-pound West’s draft stock rose in hockey, the debate on whether he should focus fully on hockey couldn’t be ignored. Potts said he met with West and his family and told them, “Mason, I want you to do what’s best for you.”

“You never quite know until you’re here,” Potts said. “He’s such a competitive person, so I’m lucky to coach him and have him back and go for a nice run his senior year.”

“Everyone can see how tall he is, his arm, his mobility, but what they don’t see is the preparation that he does, his work ethic,” Potts said.

West pointed to the example set by another Hornets hockey player: current New York Islanders captain Anders Lee, who was a finalist for Minnesota’s Mr. Football and Mr. Hockey awards by the time he graduated from Edina in 2009.

“[Knowing Lee did the same] kind of makes me more comfortable and confident that I can do it, too,” West said. “There’s no reason to rush the process.”

This summer, West traveled to Los Angeles for the NHL draft with his parents, brother and sister. Because West was picked in Friday’s first round, his family spent the next day at Hermosa Beach instead of back at L.A.’s Peacock Theater, everything still feeling “surreal,” said West.

His dad grew up in Chicago, so he was especially excited about West’s future hockey home. He introduced the Blackhawks to his son back when Mason was starting to play flag football with many of the boys who are now his Hornets teammates — all equally intent on stringing together a strong senior year.

“We’ve all been playing together for a pretty long time, and just the chemistry we’ve had, the relationships we’ve built together, go a long way in a sport like football,” senior linebacker Evan Gilder said. “That’s something that can be special about this team.”

Edina’s schedule pits the Hornets against many of the state’s toughest opponents: defending Class 6A champ Maple Grove, state runner-up Minnetonka and perennial power Eden Prairie, among others.

As with any high school team, there’s turnover, including five new offensive line starters. The defensive line is anchored by senior Iowa commit Sawyer Jezierski. The team has added senior wide receivers Owen Egge from Stillwater and Christian Hayes from Illinois and has players ready to take increased snaps in the place of graduated talent.

“Especially as seniors, we have to take it one day at a time, every practice, every game,” said senior wide receiver and Jamestown commit Jabari Strader. “We can’t just look straight to big games at the end of the season, but take it one day, one practice, one workout at a time.”