Trois-Rivieres Lions Defenseman Miguel Tourigny is heading back overseas to Slovakia after spending last season in the ECHL, where he put up nine goals and 29 assists for 38 points in 61 games. He would add three assists while playing in all six Kelly Cup Playoff Games for the Lions. Tourigny would lead Lion defenseman in goals (9) and PIM (80) during the 2023-24 season. This isn’t the first time the 22-year-old has gone overseas as he began his professional career in Slovakia during the 2022-23 season, where he put five goals and 19 assists for 24 points in 39 games.
Prior to going pro, the former 2022 seventh-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens spent four seasons in the QMJHL with the Blainville-Boisbrand Armada and Acadie-Bathurst Titan, where he put up 64 goals and 94 assists for 158 points in 187 games and would be named to the QMJHL First All-Star team in 2022 where he put up 31 goals and 49 assists for 80 points in 65 games.
There’s no doubt that the Lions had been hit hard on losing a lot of key pieces up front, but in the past week, they have now lost their top two defensemen as Chris Ortiz signed an ECHL deal with the Wheeling Nailers to return to the team where his ECHL career had begun. Tourigny becomes the second defenseman and seventh player from last year’s Lions team to take the overseas route. Tourigny will join Jarid Lukosevicius, who spent 15 games with the South Carolina Stingrays last season on his new team in Slovakia.
