From Alton Telegraph
By Pete Hayes
GODFREY – Club hockey is coming to Lewis and Clark Community College.
A pair of club hockey teams – one for men and one for women – will begin play in the fall of 2026, it was announced Thursday.
LCCC will compete in American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II, with the men’s team joining the Mid-American Collegiate Hockey Association and the women’s team competing as an independent club.
Both teams will play and practice East Alton Ice Arena home.
The East Alton Ice Arena already serves as a site for Mississippi Valley Club Hockey Association high school hockey games and practices and as home ice for the SIUE Cougars hockey club. Under the club format, team fees are paid by individuals and the clubs and not by the schools they represent. MVCHA teams are not officially school sponsored.
Tyler Elbrecht will coach the men’s team and Mattie Norton will coach the women.
Elbrecht, who grew up in the Troy and Edwardsville area, played youth hockey for the Twin Bridges Lightning before heading off to Junior Hockey. He later played four seasons at Minnesota State Mankato before playing six years in the East Coast Hockey League. He grew up playing for the Granite City Steelers, Twin Bridges Lightning and the St.Louis AAA Junior Blues before heading off for his junior hockey career.
His junior hockey career took him to Alaska, Omaha and back to St. Louis. After three years of the junior hockey, Tyler was fortunate enough to land a Division 1 scholarship to the Minnesota State University Mankato, where earned a degree in Business Marketing and a minor in Business Administration. After college, he began a pro career in Boise, Idaho in the East Coast Hockey League.
Kyle Culiberk, who has coached at SIUE and served as hockey director at Twin Bridges, will be the men’s assistant coach
Elbrecht started the Elite Hockey Facility and Elite Hockey Camps in East Alton in 2018.
Norton, a former NCAA Division III captain and SUNYAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, with more than five years of coaching experience.
Norton, a native of Edwardsville, finished a four-year career at Plattsburgh State in Plattsburgh, New York, in the spring. Her senior season, she served as team captain and was named to numerous post-season elite teams, including being named a CCM Hockey/AHCA Division III Women’s East All-American second team. Her five power-play goals led the team and SUNYAC.
At EHS, Norton played field hockey and ice hockey. She also played nine years of club ice hockey for the St. Louis Lady Blues and was team captain 2018-19 and 2020-21.
Norton also serves on the coaching staff at Elbrecht’s Elite Hockey Facility.
“This is an exciting step for Lewis and Clark,” Elbrecht said. “Our goal is to build a program that helps young adults succeed, whether that means advancing to a four-year college after Lewis and Clark or preparing for their careers.”
(Originally published at https://www.thetelegraph.com/sports/article/lccc-club-hockey-21200422.php)
