Two-sport Edina star narrows college hockey choices, excludes Gophers

Two-sport Edina high school star and 2025 NHL draft prospect Mason West has narrowed his college hockey recruitment to two schools, neither of which are the University of Minnesota.

West, who plays hockey and football for the Hornets, will attend either Michigan State or Boston College, according to a new story from NHL.com's Mike Morreale. He's expected to be taken in the first two rounds in the NHL entry draft at the end of this month. After that, he'll play one more season of quarterback for Edina this fall, then hang up the cleats and play for the Fargo Force in the USHL, where he played 12 games this spring. And next year, he'll head out of state to begin his NCAA hockey career.

It's unclear to what extent the Gophers were involved in West's recruitment, but one has to assume they at least talked to him. It's not ideal for Bob Motzko and his staff when a Twin Cities-area player of this caliber winds up heading elsewhere for college.

At 6'6", 215 pounds, West is quite the athlete. A right-shot center, he put up 27 goals and 49 points for Edina last winter in his final high school hockey season. He also threw for over 2,500 yards and 37 touchdowns as a junior QB last fall. West has Division I football offers from programs like Miami (OH) and Kent State, but he's focused on playing hockey at the next level.

"Fargo really gave me that experience of what the hockey path could look like," West told Morreale. "Obviously, they don't have that in football, so I got to see what the next step is for a hockey career, and I want to pursue that. I think I can get way better when I really focus on one sport."

Michigan State and Minnesota finished tied for the Big Ten men's regular season title this year. Both teams were bounced in the first round of the NCAA Tournament (by Cornell and UMass, respectively). Boston College was the top overall seed and lost to Denver in the quarterfinals.

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