Dragons Open Season with 3-2 Road Loss at Cambridge

The London Dragons opened the 2025-26 Checking 1 South season with a 3-2 loss to the Cambridge Blues at Cambridge Ice Arena on 25 October. Cambridge took the game on second-period goals from Ruike Liu and Jonathan Romic after the Dragons carried a 1-0 lead out of the first. Artem Meshcherin was named Dragons MVP. Romic scored the game winner, and Cambridge netminder Max Millstine took home Blues MVP. The Blues finished with a 57-51 edge in shots.

The Dragons struck first at 15:14 of the opening period. With Ruike Liu in the box for goalie interference, Patrick Chapman converted on the power play from Michael D'Aprix to give London a 1-0 lead. It was a good first period from the Dragons, who handled an early exchange of penalties, generated offence, and went to the room in front.

Cambridge turned the game in the middle frame. Liu tied it at 20:31 on a delayed penalty, with Jack Murphy picking up the assist. The game then swung on discipline. Michael D'Aprix was called for interference at 23:21, and 23 seconds later Raphael Girard received a checking from behind major and game penalty. Cambridge capitalised during the extended advantage, with Liu scoring his second of the night on the power play at 27:27 from Scott Partington to make it 2-1.

The Blues added the decisive goal late in the second. After Jonathan Romic served a tripping penalty at 36:19, he returned to score at 39:03, finishing a play set up by Shaan Baig and Liu to extend the lead to 3-1.

The Dragons pushed back early in the third. At 43:02, Rohan Kingwell cut the deficit to one from Matthew Azevedo, bringing London back to 3-2 with plenty of time left. The Dragons continued to press and finished the night with 51 shots, but could not find the equaliser.

This was a one-goal game driven largely by the second period. London generated enough offence to take something from it, but the difference on the night was the penalty count. Cambridge finished with six penalty minutes. The Dragons had 31. That stretch in the middle of the game was the turning point.

Even so, there were positives in the opener. Chapman opened the scoring on the power play, Kingwell got the Dragons back within one in the third, and Meshcherin earned MVP honours after a strong performance. The result was not there, but the game was close throughout and there is a solid base to build from heading into the next fixture.

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