The 28-year-old winger joins the club after spending the past season icing in Europe for two second tier teams, starting the year off in Sweden’s Allsvenskan league with Nybro Vikings IF before joining DEL2 club, EV Landshut.
Tonge played 17 games for Nybro and recorded seven points, scoring one goal before then switching to the mainland and appearing 23 times for Landshut, where he totalled 21 points (9G, 12A).
Born in Kingston, Ontario, Alex will play his fourth season in Europe this year after previously playing in Poland, as well as Germany and Sweden.
Tonge, who stands at 5-foot and 10-inches tall, also played two full seasons in the ECHL after spending four years in the NCAA with Robert Morris University, where he won a regular season championship.
Alex also spent four years playing junior hockey with his hometown club, Kingston Voyageurs of the Ontario Junior Hockey League.
LEFEBVRE ON TONGE
After adding Tonge to his roster, Stars Director of Hockey Operations and Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre, said: “It is no secret that we had to replace some guys that we are losing, because we are losing two of our top guys to European clubs and we needed to replace those guys with high-quality offensive players and Alex definitely brings that to the table.
“If you look at his scoring record everywhere he has played, he has had quite a bit of success and he is a top line player for us, who can put up some strong numbers and I believe he is going to do that this season.
He continued: “We want to play a high-tempo game and with the players we are brining in, with guys like Alex, it is definitely a big advantage to have him on our team and especially on our powerplay.
“He can help us in all offensive areas of the game and he definitely upgrades our team, which is something that we identified that we wanted to do right at the start of summer.
“Alex is a danger every time he is on the ice, especially in the offensive zone and he is a guy you have to watch out for because he is either going to make a play towards the net to a teammate or he will put the puck in himself.
“So, it is nice to have that threat every time someone is on the ice and we will be adding more players of his calibre to the line-up but it is great to get this one over the line.
“I have to thank Ryan Valentini too, he is good buddies with Alex and Ryan spoke highly of his time in Dundee and helped us with this one.”
TONGE ON BECOMING A STAR
Once he finalised his switch to Tayside, Alex said: “It has been a long summer of figuring out where I wanted to play this year, me and Marc had some great chats and I have heard nothing but great things about Dundee, so it was an easy decision for me.
“I want to come in and have an impact on the team, really do what I can out there and Marc is going to give me the opportunity to do that, so I am going to show him what I can do and there was a very mutual interest of being able to succeed together.”
Sharing how much he knows about Dundee and the Elite League, Alex explained: “I know a lot of guys who have played in this league before and I have talked to them but I actually know Ryan Valentini really well.
“I talked to him and he had nothing but good things to say, so I am really happy to be coming to Dundee.”
Tonge also described how he likes to play the game, adding: “I like to have the puck on my stick, slow the game down and I like to make the people around me look good.
“So, what I do is try my best to put the puck in the net and get my teammates the puck in the best spots so they can score.
“I try to play a full 200-foot game but my strengths are definitely on the powerplay and in the offensive zone.”
Finally, Alex shared a message for the Stars fans and he said: “I am looking forward to getting Dundee and meeting the fans.
“I saw lots of pictures from last year, it looks like a great atmosphere in the rink and I want to help the team build off of what they achieved last year.”
Listen to the full interview with Alex and Stars TV below!
TONGE’S CAREER
Alex’s career started back in 2009, as he played for Greater Kingston Gaels U15 AAA side and scored 73 points in 55 games, before netting 45 in 46 for the U16 AAA team a year later.
In 2011, the Canadian joined Kingston Voyageurs in the OJHL and over the next four seasons, he would feature in 157 regular season games and rack up 156 points (63G, 93A) before adding 64 more points in 52 playoff matches.
In his final year with the Voyageurs, Tonge was named to the OJHL Second All-Star Team after accumulating 69 points in 39 games during the regular season and 36 more across 24 playoff fixtures.
During the summer of 2015, he was also selected to play for Canada East U19’s side in the World Junior A Challenge Tournament, where he recorded two goals and an assist in five games.
Alex then committed to play for Robert Morris University and in his freshman year, he recorded 11 points and helped the team to an Atlantic Hockey Association Regular Season Championship in the 2015-2016 season.
The winger was then named to the (AHA) Third All-Conference Team in the 2017-2018 campaign and then to the (AHA) Second All-Conference Team the following year.
Across his four seasons as a Colonial, Tonge dressed in 146 NCAA games and contributed 138 points, netting 56 goals and assisting 82 times, before then turning professional with Florida Everblades at the end of the 2018-2019 season.
He played 18 games for Florida in the ECHL and tallied 12 points (7G, 5A) before then signing up again with the Everblades for the 2019-2020 season.
Alex would score five points in 13 appearances before he was traded to Adirondack Thunder and after contributing nine points in 14 games, he then moved to Norfolk Admirals in a swap deal and ended the season with another 16 points from 20 matches.
During the COVID-19 impacted season of 2020-2021, Tonge played in Poland but he iced in only three games for GKS Tychy before heading back to Norfolk in the summer and going on to accumulate 66 points in as many games.
Ahead of the 2022-2023 season, Tonge returned to Europe as he penned a deal with Heilbronner Falken of the DEL2 and through 64 matches, he would rack up 67 points before then moving north to Sweden to join Nybro Vikings in the Allsvenskan last season.
After making 17 appearances and scoring seven points, he then returned to the German second tier in November with EV Landshut and went on to score 27 points in 30 contests.
In his 15-year-career so far, Alex has featured in 612 matches, recorded 245 goals, 351 assists and collected 272 penalty minutes, while also playing in 94 playoff games, where he tallied 92 points (51G, 41A) and 48 penalty minutes.
Alex is our 13th signing of the summer and joins Drydn Dow, Ben O’Connor, Jonathan McBean, Xavier Pouliot, Craig Garrigan, Kris Inglis, Kyle Pouncy, Brett Gravelle, Craig Moore, Keanu Yamamoto, Brendan Harms and Jake Elmer on the roster for next season.
Tonge has also shared a dressing room with a number of former Stars players throughout his career, including: Spencer Dorowicz, Francis Marotte, Jordan Southorn, James Phelan, Carter Folk, Elijah Vilio and Ryan Valentini.
Tonge will wear #88 for the Stars and you can sponsor his equipment for this season right now, click HERE.
To see Alex’s career stats on Elite Prospects click HERE.
Banner image: PNP.
