Dragons Close Season in Style with 19-5 Win Over Imperial

The London Dragons signed off the 2025-26 season with a 19-5 win over the Imperial Devils on 7 March at Lee Valley Ice Centre.

This was already a strong attacking performance on its own. We scored seven in the first, five in the second, and seven more in the third, finishing with a 99-24 edge in shots and complete control for most of the night. But this game carried extra weight beyond the result. It was also the final game for Michael D’Aprix, Artem Meshcherin, and Patrick Chapman, and all three made sure to leave their mark.

Patrick set the tone in the first period. After early goals from Aleksandr Zaborskikh and Artem helped us recover from Imperial twice drawing level, Patrick stepped in with two late first-period goals in the space of 36 seconds. His first, at 19:14, came from Samuel Rudenko and Rohan Kingwell. His second, at 19:50, came from Gabriel Duarte and Zaborskikh. That stretch helped turn a competitive opening period into a 7-2 lead and gave us full control of the game. Patrick officially had the game-winning goal, which felt fitting in his final appearance.

Artem was at the centre of the game from the start as well. He scored our second goal at 7:00 from Tom Jungbluth and Patrick, then added another at 10:33 from Seamus Nangle and Zaborskikh as we pulled away in the first. He was heavily involved throughout, combining well with Zaborskikh and Piazenko, and then capped his night with a power-play goal at 48:44 in the third. Artem finished his final game with a hat trick and four assists, the kind of performance that summed up exactly what he has brought to this team.

Mike had to wait a little longer to get on the scoresheet, but once he did, he took over the middle and late stages of the game. He scored at 21:58 early in the second from Maxwell Tong and Edward Xing to make it 8-2, added an assist on Tong’s goal at 38:33, then drove the third period. He set up Tong again at 41:35, scored himself at 42:57 from Kingwell and Tong, assisted Rudenko at 46:56, picked up another assist on Kingwell’s shorthanded goal at 52:34, and then scored the final goal of the night at 59:10 from Zaborskikh and Piazenko. Mike closed his Dragons career with a hat trick and four assists in one of the standout performances of the night.

Around them, the rest of the team delivered as well. Zaborskikh scored three and added three assists. Tong scored four and added four assists. Piazenko had a goal and five assists. Rudenko had a goal and three assists. Nangle quietly put together another strong game with four assists. The scoring depth was obvious right through the lineup, but the central story remained the same. On a night that marked the end for three important players, the team gave them the right kind of send-off.

Imperial had their moments early, with Tal Elbaz scoring twice in the first and later completing his hat trick in the third, while Daegan Penner and Walter Bachmann also found the net. But the overall shape of the game never really changed. We were too quick, too direct, and too clinical, and the pressure never let up. By the end, the 19-5 scoreline reflected that clearly.

There are games where the result is the main story, and there are games where the people matter just as much. This one was both. It was a dominant final performance, but more importantly it was the right ending for Mike D’Aprix, Artem Meshcherin, and Patrick Chapman. All three contributed heavily, all three were central to the way we played, and all three left the ice having shaped the game in exactly the way they shaped this team.

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