ANNVILLE, Pa. - Lebanon Valley College has named former NHL and AHL player Tony Horacek as its next head coach of men's ice hockey.

Horacek, an experienced professional, juniors, and high school coach, is a familiar name to midstate hockey fans after spending part of his professional playing career with the Philadelphia Flyers and the Hershey Bears, as well as time in the Chicago Blackhawks organization.

Lebanon Valley will move from NCAA Division III to the American Collegiate Hockey Association for the 2010-11 season, with the program having formally applied for ACHA Division I classification.

"I am excited to welcome someone with the wealth and diversity of hockey experience that Tony possesses," said LVC director of athletics Rick Beard '90 M'92. "He is the right person to lead our ice hockey program as they begin play in the ACHA."

Horacek began coaching during the end of his playing career, first as a player-coach for the Indianapolis Ice of the IHL from 1994 to 1996, and then again in 1997 for the Utah Grizzlies of the IHL, where he also served as an assistant general manager.

Horacek, a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, most recently served as coach for Cedar Crest's varsity program, and has scouted for numerous teams in the EJHL and AJHL junior leagues, and he  coaches multiple youth hockey organizations in the central Pennsylvania region. He is an experienced clinician, holding hockey schools in Hershey, Maryland, and upstate New York, and he also established the Central Pennsylvania Elite Blackhawks Summer Tournament teams. Horacek holds a master's hockey teaching certificate from USA Hockey.

As a player, Horacek was selected in the seventh round of the 1985 NHL Draft by the Flyers, and accumulated 234 points in five seasons in the minors before making his NHL debut in 1989-90, when he played 48 games for the Flyers. Between the Flyers and Blackhawks, he played in 154 career NHL games. He also played in 77 career games for the Hershey Bears.