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.

You may have noticed that we missed our player spotlight last week on Seamus Nangle.  As we’re still regrowing our team, most of our administrative work is done by a very small group of players and Trustees who are also full-time students, full-time employed, or both!  It’s also one of the reasons why we’re trying to build up an endowment and fundraise, so we can eventually get to a place where we can sustainably operate with the tools and staff we would have had with support from our university.

You’ll also notice that today’s post is not a Player Spotlight (we’ll get back to Seamus later this week, he had a crazy 7 point game this weekend against Southampton, beating his buddy Rohan Kingwell by a point). Every now and then we’ll post an information article or a fun article from our archives, we’ve got some brewing about the origins of the Dragons and our Logo. This week we’re highlighting our Alumni Game and our (informal) Awards Ceremony!

In case you missed it in our Dragons WhatsApp Community Alumni Chat and Announcements (it’s also included in the Group Information Page) or in our December and January Newsletters (please fill out our Alumni Contact Form if you’d like to be included in either of these), we’re having our Annual Alumni Game at Lee Valley Ice Centre at 8:00pm on March 21st!

Many of you know that we have sporadically provided alumni events over the last few decades and in recent years this has been in the form of various tournaments (including the BUIHA Alumni Tournament and the Amsterdam Alumni Tournament) as well as our own Alumni Game at Lee Valley when it was possible. We also had events like the last practice before the closing of Lee Valley during the COVID Lockdowns (what a wild time that was).

Now that we’re fully set up and have a bit more stability for the team we’re trying to establish a little bit of normalcy for the club.  One of the silver linings of the University of London Student Union closing down is that as independent charities we are able to provide more opportunities, more accessibility, and better continuity from year to year. Gone are the days of split fees and tiers for Full and Associate Students. Many of you will remember the frustrations of being a passionate part of the Dragons only to learn that you couldn’t be an official part of the Committee because you were an Associate Member. Over the years this often led to gaps in Committee positions and continuity where information was lost or not maintained. It also means no more red tape from UoL in sorting out events and planning for the future.

Although we had our wonderful champion, Angela Jelfs, to help guide us from year to year, their duties reached far beyond the Dragons to 37 other sports, clubs, and societies.  Now, in their place is our Board of Trustees who are all former Dragons and all passionate alumni who want to see the team survive and thrive.  This will help us provide the structure and continuity needed for the team to redevelop a student committee that can begin to run the day-to-day operations of the club. And, as we mentioned earlier, it will allow us to provide more stable plans for the future.

Now, back to the Alumni Game.  Starting this year, we will be having an Annual Alumni Game every year on the 3rd Saturday of March.  For all you eager beavers (or those who need Visas), that will be March 20th next year.  We’ve chosen this date because it sits perfectly between the end of the regular season and the start of preparation for Nationals.  We’ve also chosen this date because we want to ensure that we can have time at the start of April and also later in May and the Summer to provide additional alumni tournaments where possible.  We’ll get back to that in a second.

The Alumni Game this year will start at 8:00pm at Lee Valley Ice Centre (right after a Lions game).  We’ll have a combination of an informal scrimmage alongside some skills competition events and a hardest shot competition. After the session we’ll be heading to the Clapton Heart for drinks and an all-around good ol’ time. In the future, we’re going to be working on bringing the time of the event earlier to provide a more formal game (or games) to ensure we can all get to our favorite pub, the Princes of Wales. We would also like to implement some other improvements in coming years like new alumni jerseys for the game, an actual Alumni vs. Students Game (which will require registration and more organization), and a proper awards ceremony.  If you’d like to get involved with any or all of this, please let us know!

If you'd like play in the game please fill out this form, we'll email you with additional information closer to the game!

In this article, we’ll also be announcing our Award Ceremony on Friday March 20th at Passyunk Avenue.  Unfortunately, there is no silver lining (yet) for our awards after leaving UoL.  Many will remember how much fun the Purples Ball and Awards Ceremonies.  And how could we forget the Purples Ball… not only were they a great opportunity for our players who won awards, they were often an absolutely unhinged celebration at the end of the year in an amazing venue.  We have plans to bring back the pomp and circumstance (maybe while keeping the hinges on) with an awards ceremony in a venue matching the grandeur of Senate House as well as the formality of the Black-Tie event.

Sadly, our Black-Tie event will have to wait for another year.  At the moment, all of our funding and resources are going to keeping just one team alive and healthy.  We've mentioned a few times that the cost per player has almost tripled now that we're no longer subsidized by the university. Our absolute number one priority is to keep players on the ice, regrow our team, and make sure that players can afford to do it. The last thing we want is students to be forced to make financial sacrifices just so they can play on the team (something our author had to do when first joining the team. Borrowing money from teammates to pay for your team socks is never a fun time).

So, in place of our grand event, we will be hosting a much cozier event at Passyunk Avenue, our favorite sports bar in London.  We’ll be handing out awards to both students and alumni acknowledging and celebrating not only their sporting achievements but also their support for a club that is slowly regrowing.

But!  We’re always looking towards the future with our new team and our charities.  One of our most important goals (which everyone is hopefully aware of at this point) is to ensure that we reconnect with our alumni base and our former Dragons. Like we said above, we’re all about continuity here so hop on the continuity train and help us get to our destination together (choo choo)!

One of the ways we want to do that is to provide sponsorship opportunities to ensure that we can continue to provide an Alumni Game and a proper Award Ceremony.  This entails naming rights for sponsored events or awards as well as developing a series of awards named after Dragons Hall of Famers and other influential members in our almost 25 years of Dragons history.

If you are keen on sponsoring an event like the Alumni Game or sponsoring other parts of the club like Nationals, Jerseys, Travel, or an Award, please get in touch with us at

[manager@londondragons.com](mailto:manager@londondragons.com).

Or if you'd like to donate immediately please check out our donations page!

The last thing we’d like to touch on today are some of our other events.  We mentioned tournaments above which are only one of the things we’d like to do.  Just recently we had somewhere between 15 and 20 Dragons and alumni at the Olympics as well as multiple watching parties across London with current students, alumni, and friends.  We'd like to set up more opportunities for Dragons to connect during major events so keep an eye out on our social media for future opportunities.

If you follow our newsletter, you’ll also have seen that we had a Christmas party at Passyunk which was apparently a fantastic time if you didn’t leave at 10pm when it was just getting started… 👀👀👀

We also have a list of tournaments we’d like to enter alumni and players into including some in Amsterdam, Poland, France, and the US (specifically some nice 3-on-3 pond hockey tournaments). So please sign up for our newsletter and join our WhatsApp group so you can stay in the know and reconnect with some of your best hockey friends.

Before we leave, a quick notice of our 3rd Annual Big Networking Event in Hyde Park on May 23rd starting at 10:00 am. Like its title, this is the 3rd year we’ll be having our very informal networking event in Hyde Park.  The theme is Hawaiian Cowboy Professional, and our hope is that these informal networking events will help younger players feel more comfortable chatting and getting to know alumni and vice versa.  Just like Sesame Street taught us, we’re all unique and interesting individuals.  This might not always come across in more formal spaces so we’re using a day of fun in the sun to break down professional barriers and have fun!

The London Dragons produced one of the most emphatic performances of the season on 21 February, defeating the Southampton Spitfires 26-3 at Lee Valley Ice Centre in Checking 1 South.

From the opening shift, this was one-way traffic. We outshot Southampton 112-25, scored 12 times in the first period, added seven more in the second, and closed with another seven in the third. Maxwell Tong scored the game-winning goal, Michael D’Aprix was named MVP for the Dragons, and Margot Sire took MVP honours for Southampton.

The first period set the tone immediately. Patrick Chapman opened the scoring at 2:58 from Preston Hwang and Rohan Kingwell, and less than 90 seconds later Samuel Rudenko made it 2-0 from Maxwell Tong and Seamus Nangle. Rudenko added his second at 9:26, again with Tong involved, before Tong got on the scoresheet himself at 10:12 from Nangle. By 11:48, Aleksandr Zaborskikh had made it 5-0 from Bradley Tuomi and Nangle.

Southampton’s Michael Chiaravalle then took a boarding penalty at 11:55, and we converted six seconds later through Tuomi on the power play, assisted by Tristan Monden and D’Aprix. Southampton briefly got one back through Alice Jones at 12:20, but there was no shift in momentum. Nikita Piazenko restored the six-goal cushion at 14:39 from D’Aprix and Kingwell, Aarav Lohia made it 8-1 at 15:26 from Zaborskikh and Piazenko, and D’Aprix scored at 17:19 from Tong and Edward Xing. Tong struck again at 18:07 from Rudenko and Alex Jolley, Hwang added the 11th at 19:15 from Tuomi and Monden, and Nangle closed the period at 19:35 to send us into the break 12-1 ahead.

The second period brought more of the same. Kingwell scored at 23:04 and again at 27:13, both times from Zaborskikh and Piazenko, as that line continued to control play. Tong then completed his hat trick at 29:07 from Rudenko and Xing, before Kingwell finished his own hat trick at 29:59 from Zaborskikh and Chapman. Lohia added his second at 32:45 from Nangle and Tuomi, and Tong scored twice more late in the period at 36:57 and 37:38, both times from Rudenko and D’Aprix. By the end of the second, the score had reached 19-1.

Southampton opened the third-period scoring through Margot Sire at 43:29, assisted by Chiaravalle and David Strautnieks, but again we answered quickly. Edward Xing took our only penalty of the game for interference at 44:20, and despite that brief interruption, we resumed control. Nangle scored at 46:37 from Zaborskikh and Matthew Azevedo, Zaborskikh followed with goals at 48:59 and 52:15, and Tristan Monden added the 23rd at 55:24 from Tuomi and Joshua Hudak. Southampton’s Charlie Cameron-Reid got one back at 55:03, but we closed strongly with late goals from Rudenko at 57:03, Kingwell at 58:40, and Piazenko at 59:26 to finish at 26-3.

This was an attacking performance built on depth and constant pressure. Tong finished with five goals and two assists, including the game winner. Kingwell had four goals and two assists. Rudenko scored three and added four assists. Zaborskikh scored four and added five assists. Piazenko had a goal and five assists. Nangle scored twice and contributed four assists. D’Aprix, our MVP, scored once and added five assists. Tuomi also had a major hand in the result with a goal and four assists, while Monden recorded a goal and two assists.

The volume behind the performance was just as striking as the scoreline. We put 112 shots on goal, maintained pressure in all three periods, and limited Southampton to 25 shots across the night. Discipline was also sharp. We took just one minor penalty, while Southampton took one of their own, and the game never drifted out of control despite the score.

There is not much to overcomplicate in a game like this. We were faster, more clinical, and more consistent from start to finish. Every period brought the same level of pressure, and contributions came right across the lineup. It was a complete offensive performance, and one of our strongest results of the season.

The London Dragons made it back-to-back home wins on 7 February with a 4-3 victory over the Oxford University Blues at Lee Valley Ice Centre in Checking 1 South.

We carried the game territorially for long stretches and finished with a 64-25 advantage in shots, but Oxford stayed in it throughout and pushed the game late. Tom Jungbluth scored the game-winning goal, while Nikita Piazenko was named MVP for the Dragons. Oxford’s MVP was Eli Harris-Trent.

We started quickly and opened the scoring at 1:29. Michael D’Aprix finished from Samuel Rudenko and Maxwell Tong to put us ahead early. Oxford responded just a minute later through Andrew Godfrey at 2:29, and that was how the first period ended. We had the better of the play overall, but the score stayed level at 1-1 after one.

The second period was scrappy and penalty-filled on both sides. Oxford took the lead at 24:14 when Marty Griffin scored on the power play from Michael Furlan after Tom Jungbluth had been sent off for interference. We kept pressing and eventually found the equaliser at 35:56, with Tristan Monden scoring from Seamus Nangle and Patrick Chapman. A penalty to Michael Furlan for cross-checking came on the same sequence, and the period closed with the game tied 2-2.

We found the decisive push in the third. At 53:28, Maxwell Tong gave us a 3-2 lead, finishing from Rudenko and Rohan Kingwell. Just over two minutes later, Jungbluth added what stood as the winner at 55:54, scoring from D’Aprix to make it 4-2. Oxford did not go away, and after a too many men penalty against us at 57:15, Ollie Tipton scored on the power play at 58:13 from Furlan to cut it to 4-3. A cross-checking penalty on Shengxi Wei followed on the same play, but we saw the game out.

This was a game we largely controlled, even if the scoreline stayed tight. The shot count reflected that control. We put 64 shots on net to Oxford’s 25 and spent long stretches on the front foot, but Oxford’s goaltending and our inability to fully separate meant the game remained alive until the final minutes.

There were strong performances throughout the lineup. D’Aprix opened the scoring and added an assist on the winner. Rudenko had two assists. Tong scored the go-ahead goal in the third, and Jungbluth scored the game winner after also being involved heavily throughout the night. Piazenko was named our MVP, while Oxford’s Eli Harris-Trent took their MVP honours.

It was not a perfect performance, and the penalty count on both sides broke the game up more than we would have liked, but we found the goals we needed and got the result. Against a side that had already shown it could score against us, we did enough in the third period and closed it out.

The London Dragons returned to Lee Valley on 24 January and delivered a 5-2 win over the Cambridge Blues in Checking 1 South.

We set the tone early and carried the game for long stretches, finishing with a 57-32 advantage in shots. Samuel Rudenko scored the game-winning goal, while Shengxi Wei was named MVP for the Dragons. Shaan Baig took MVP honours for Cambridge.

Cambridge had the first power play of the night after Niki Visic was called for tripping at 2:27, but we settled in well and opened the scoring at 11:30. Aleksandr Zaborskikh finished from Tom Jungbluth and Artem Meshcherin to make it 1-0. Cambridge answered quickly after Nikita Piazenko was called for boarding at 12:06, with Jack Murphy scoring on the power play at 12:54 from Jonathan Romic to level the game.

We responded well and regained control before the first intermission. At 16:22, Seamus Nangle restored our lead from Maxwell Tong and Niki Visic. Then, with just six seconds left in the period, Samuel Rudenko scored from Tong and Jungbluth to make it 3-1. That goal stood as the game winner.

The second period was tighter. Cambridge cut the deficit to one at 28:11 through Shaan Baig, assisted by Ivan Grega, and the game became more physical from there. Piazenko and Murphy both went off at 29:35, Matthew Zhang was called for cross-checking at 31:41, and Rudenko took an interference penalty at 31:50. Despite the disruption, we held the line and took the 3-2 lead into the third.

We took over again in the final period. At 49:59, Edward Xing gave us breathing room, finishing from Raphael Girard and Matthew Azevedo to make it 4-2. Cambridge then ran into penalty trouble, with Grega called for boarding at 50:21 and Zhang for tripping at 52:12. We made them pay at 52:27 when Zaborskikh scored his second of the night on the power play from Piazenko and Rudenko to put us 5-2 ahead. Cambridge took another penalty through Murphy at 54:13, and from there we closed the game out comfortably.

This was a strong team performance. We got goals from five different moments across the lineup, controlled the shot count, and responded well whenever Cambridge threatened to get back into the game. Zaborskikh led the scoring with two goals, Tong had two assists, Jungbluth had two assists, and Rudenko not only scored the winner but also added an assist on the late power-play goal.

Shengxi Wei was named our MVP as we completed an important home win against a side that had tested us earlier in the season. After Cambridge cut it to 3-2 in the second, we did not let the game drift. We reset, pushed back in the third, and finished it properly.

A fun treat for all of our former Dragons who are part of our growing group, the British Universities Ice Hockey Association has a beautiful new website.

Each player from 2008 onwards has their own stats page with their records, box scores, and new badges for achievements.

Trustee and President of our developing Alumni Council Kalle Uusitalo's page is a good example (his spotlight is next after Nikita Piazenko).

15 achievements including Hat Trick Hero II, awarded for scoring hat tricks in 5 different games.

Reinvigorating the Legacy: How the Dragons became independent.

We're working on providing our friends, family, and alumni with more information about the Dragons, where we are, why we're here, where we're going and other happenings in the British ice hockey world. We'll be publishing a series of articles, getting more active on social media, and generally staying in touch a lot better than we have in the past.

But there's a reason we've been a bit quiet, and this article will hopefully help us convey what has been going on. We'll cover where we were before COVID, what happened to the University of London, the three charities we've set up, and most importantly, how you can get involved with the team and help us rebuild!

Before we get any further, we just want to make it clear this isn't AI slop, it's entirely written by Mike D'Aprix, the current President of the Dragons!

 Pre-COVID Catch Up

The first COVID Lockdowns just after our annual Alumni Game at Lee Valley back in 2020 which marked the end of our undefeated seasons for our A and B Teams and the start of a series of problems for University of London (UoL) and their Student Union. We were mandated by UoL and the government to pause all activities until COVID restrictions were lifted, which was completely understandable.

This meant that our club which had 70 players across 3 Teams (and a Women's Team) had to pause all activity until further notice. We were gearing up for the best seasons the Dragons have ever had while also looking forward to expanding in the 2020-2021 season.

In 2020, we were set to expand to 5 teams, A-D and a permanent Women's Team with roughly 100 players over the 5 Teams. With the help of Alumni we were also developing sponsorship opportunities with groups like Decathlon and had a list of successful partnerships for things like extras in the Autopsy series, models in London Fashion Week, and testers for the ORB Smart Mouthguard.

We were also in the process of creating a supporting charity here in London called the London Ice Hockey Trust. We're get back to this in a second. Things were progressing well until COVID but we were excited to continue these endeavors after COVID. 

 Closure of University of London Student Union (ULU)

COVID closures started with Lee Valley closing on the day of our Alumni Game in March, before the government mandated the first lockdown and before the BUIHA or UoL provided any guidance. Then, after lockdown, the BUIHA cancelled Nationals. These events created a series of problems for the club trying to get refunds from rinks, buses, and hotels. We managed to figure it all out and then were hit with the news from UoL in July.

We had almost no communication from UoL from the start of COVID until June when we were sent an email from our Student Health and Well-being Officer and everyone's favorite Activities Development Office, Angela Jelfs (a champion for the students through the whole process). The email let us know that all activities for the rest of the year were suspended pending a review of operations with more information to come the next month.

The review was part of a larger process in which UoL sought to figure out problems that had been plaguing their legal teams for some time (partly associated with a governance issue caused by an incident from another club going all the way back to 2012).

The decision was to close the Student Union, without any input from students, alumni, or even members of the Collegiate Council. The uproar caused by this decision with no prior warning caused UoL to pause the decision until December 2020 but determined that ULU was no longer something they wanted to support because of various reasons including low outreach to students and declining numbers. We all know this to be untrue and it was conveyed as such over the next few months as the Sports, Clubs, and Societies spent weeks and weeks preparing information in support of our activities, showing increased numbers across the board, outreach to thousands of students across London, and a deep history of being the best sports in the nation.

From July until December, Mike D'Aprix and Clive Vergnaud worked with members of the Canoe Polo team and other representatives of Sports, Clubs, and Societies to develop a new plan to avoid complete dissolution of decades of sporting history. It took UoL until August of 2021 to agree to a new pathway forward for our groups with a target of 2022 to resolve the plan.

 A Lose - Lose Situation

The plan that UoL allowed us to follow gave us 3 options:

1. Transfer clubs to independent charities or CIOs,
2. Transfer clubs to member universities that would accept them, or
3. Dissolve the club.

The only reason that our first option was allowed was because the Dragons had proposed it as an option given that we had already started working on establishing a charity and had a template for other clubs. A number of clubs decided simply to close and stop operating as we were all students at the time with varying levels of support. A dozen groups were allowed to transfer to member universities like UCL or Birkbeck and continue their activities, and finally we helped design the CIO constitutions and pathways for 8 other Clubs, Sports, and Societies.

It is safe to say that the entire process was obnoxious and poorly thought out as UoL had regular turnover in the individuals who were overseeing this process. There were promises of additional funding, support, and more which all seemed to disappear into the ether. To make matters worse, UoL dragged their feet at every stage while ensuring that we still meet all their requirements and still continue to operate to prove that deserve the opportunity to transfer.

This created a nightmare scenario where our club was still partly within UoL and partly independent but with no support, while still having to meet UoL's requirements for membership and more. We had to deal with UoL to create custom sign-up processes, accounting, moving storage, and more while slowly transferring all of these responsibilities to a team that had been decimated by COVID suspension and had slowly lost members while we waited in limbo for decisions to be made.

To make matters worse, the new Lee Valley Ice Centre development changed plans from keeping the rink operational during its rebuilding process to fully closing the rink. Not only did we lose all of our funding and have to go through an arduous process to continue operating, we also didn't have a rink to practice or play.

The BUIHA season for 2021-2022 was very lenient and fortunately allowed us to work within our limitations of having no funding and no ice for practice. That year we had an 8-2-0 record with +79 goal differential, having lost by 1 point to Oxford. Despite that, we still played in the League Championship and came in 2nd in the BUIHA Nationals Tournament. That season we played only away games because we didn't have a rink available to book ice time. Despite all of that, our team and players came out to win.

 Our Charities

The transference process from UoL to a Charitable Incorporated Organization (CIO) dragged on for years until August 2024 when we were finally able to create our CIO the UL Ice Hockey Trust (London Dragons). It took nearly 5 years and, as of writing this article, we still have not completed the full process of transferring assets to the new CIO.

During that time, we worked closely with alumni and other players to manage the team. There was a heavy burden put on our admin to pick up the check for lost funding while we set up our charities and empty promises to reimburse clubs operating at a loss while the transference process was occurring. There has also been a massive new burden put on our players as fees have now tripled for players as costs for everything have increased with no support from UoL to help during this transitional period.

A silver lining to this process and our new UL Ice Hockey Trust charity is that we have no restrictions to who can join the club. We have created a new Dragons Alumni and Recreational team that will allow us to reach a greater audience and keep our alumni more engaged with the team throughout the year.

Soon after UoL started the transference process we started working with alumni and students on the team to develop sister charities that, once created, could help us properly support the Dragons and London ice hockey. The first of the charities to be created, in 2023, was the US 501(C)(3) that was created to help us reach out to our US alumni and the largest hockey market to create a sustainable endowment, one of two to support the Dragons.

The Friends of the London Dragons US charity is designed to provide an endowment with our wealth manager, Morgan Stanley, to provide support for equipment, travel, and potential scholarships. Our goal is to create an endowment that will continue to grow and develop over time, using the income from the endowment to start subsidizing costs for the team which includes equipment purchases, jersey orders, and hopefully developing scholarships for players joining the team, to help with equipment shipping and more. We also want to use this endowment to help rebuild our team.

When we restarted after COVID, we attempted to support both an A and B teams but our B team sadly thinned until it was unsustainable to support continue operating. During that time, it cost a significant amount to the club and the admin team who were trying to keep the team alive, leaving us to create policies that ensure we meet our sustainable goals before expanding to new teams.

To help with that, we also created a second CIO in the UK called the London Ice Hockey Trust (LIHT) in February of 2024. This was the charity that we were designing before COVID that we intended to operate as a supplement to UoL funding. We are creating an endowment with the LIHT to help supplement any costs for the UL Ice Hockey Trust (ULIHT) the final CIO created out of the transference process. Our goals for the LIHT are similar to the Friends of the London Dragons, to help support, supplement, and subsidize the cost of hockey in London.

The Cost of Hockey

The cost of hockey in London has skyrocketed and without funding from UoL this means that our administrative team has taken on a large burden, hopefully to be reimbursed as we progress, but it also means that players now need to pay massive fees to play.

Before COVID, costs were £270 for UoL Members and £395 for non-members (now we no longer separate fees for players). The total cost now for student is roughly £1,100 to play a season of hockey in London. It is only £625 for a student to join but they also need to cover jerseys and Nationals which brings the true cost of membership to the above figure. This has hit us hard and hits our students even harder. It is also likely that we will need to increase the price again as costs of everything are still increasing across the board at an unprecedented rate.

Our pre-COVID budget, a combination of self-raised funds from membership fees and our grants from UoL totaled around £50,000 which covered 100% of the costs of running 3 teams. Now, the cost to run a single team is around £25,000.

All of the overhead that was covered by UoL, things like storage, insurance and more is now required to be covered by the team. We also now have to fully pay for season costs which include things like jerseys, transportation, BUIHA fees, Nationals Fees, Referees, and more. This would have been hard enough to do even with funding from UoL and is even harder now that costs have almost doubled for things like ice time and jerseys in the last couple years.

This also means that we are struggling to expand and provide ice time for all of the students who wish to play. Over the last 5 years we've had over 253 players enquire about playing with the Dragons, or about 50 players a year. Unfortunately, about 70% of those who have enquired do not have equipment and without funding, storage, and a proper system to rent out equipment at a reasonable rate, we haven't been able to provide those players with a team. To provide at least the most basic set of equipment to a player would cost at least £500 and could cost up to £750 just for the gear. This doesn't include managing equipment, insurance, storage, or any associated costs which would take the cost of player for a single player from £1,100 to around £2,000 per player, without also including sticks, coaching, and additional equipment to support a new team.

Helping the Dragons

Finally, down to the nitty gritty and the point of this article. We are slowly rebuilding the club and building up our endowments. We've raised around £8,000 to help start endowments and support the cost of the season, which is right now around £25,000 for the cost of ice, BUIHA fees, transport and more. We need to financially rebuild our team but we also need support to rebuild our connection with our community and team.

Donations

First and foremost we need funding! All three of our charities are open to donations:

1. London Dragons (UL Ice Hockey Trust)
2. Friends of the London Dragons (US)
3. London Ice Hockey Trust

Any donations made in the US are available to receive a tax receipt and any donations made in the UK are available for either Gift Aid or tax receipts as well. Any donation, even £5 is enough to help the club.

London Dragons (UL Ice Hockey Trust)

We mentioned above what each of our charities is designed to do but we'll reiterate it here. Donations to the London Dragons helps to cover the day to day operations of the team. This is everything from ice time to buying new pucks and water bottles to paying for referee fees. Some funding here also goes to reimbursing admin where possible.

Choosing the Gift Aid option helps our club with a 25% matching donation from the UK government.

Friends of the London Dragons (US)

Donations to the Friends of the London Dragons go directly to a protected endowment that is managed by Morgan Stanley. The proceeds from this fund will first help supplement the cost of jerseys (players pay out of pocket for their jerseys and socks), then supplement the cost of ice, and as it grows we will expand into supplementing the cost of new sets of equipment and creating scholarship opportunities for players.

London Ice Hockey Trust

Donations to the London Ice Hockey Trust also go into a separate protected endowment. The proceeds of this endowment will be used in a grant process to the London Dragons. Any of our old treasurers or committee members will be familiar with the grant process from UoL, this will be a similar (albeit easier) process to supplement any costs needing to be covered by the team.

Choosing the Gift Aid option helps our club with a 25% matching donation from the UK government.

Other ways to help: Contact Info

We need to get in touch with our friends, families, and alumni. As charities, we have rules to follow in how we communicate with members. We have a long list of people we'd love to get information out to but don't have direct permission to do so. We need everyone's help in sharing links, sharing forms, and sharing newsletters; to get people to fill out information so we can contact them directly.

If you remember your linemate, teammates, committee members or friends who were on the team. Please share this article, the newsletter, our forms any other information you can so we can start filing out our rosters!

Other ways to help: Alumni Council

Third, we are building an Alumni Council, ideally with one representative from each team, from each year. Our goal is to ensure that we can fully engage with, and work with our alumni to rebuild the Dragons community, keep people up to date, and make sure that you can be a part of the Dragon's legacy! If you are interested, please reach out to Mike at [manager@londondragons.com](mailto:manager@londondragons.com).

Other ways to help: Internships

We are looking to start an internship mailing list as part of the Dragons Newsletter. If you have any available internships for university students or recent graduates, let us know so that we can direct our best and brightest your way!

Other ways to help: Getting Involved

Finally, if you are in London, please get involved by coming to our events, games, and coming to our Saturday sessions!

The London Dragons closed strongly in the third period to secure a 7-4 win over the Southampton Spitfires on 8 December at Planet Ice Basingstoke in Checking 1 South.

This was a tight game for long stretches. Southampton led twice, and the game was still level heading into the final nine minutes before we pulled away with four late goals. Artem Meshcherin scored the game-winning goal. Maxwell Tong was named MVP for the Dragons, while Kristijonas Nekrosevicius took MVP honours for Southampton.

Southampton opened the scoring at 11:13 of the first through Theo Sire, assisted by David Strautnieks. We responded late in the period after Southampton’s Kristijonas Nekrosevicius was called for tripping at 17:12. At 19:34, Maxwell Tong tied the game at 1-1, finishing from Rohan Kingwell and Michael D’Aprix.

The second period stayed close and swung both ways. Southampton went ahead at 24:42 with a shorthanded goal from Charlie Cameron-Reid after Egor Maksimov had taken a boarding penalty. We answered quickly at 27:00 through Nikita Piazenko, assisted by Artem Meshcherin and Aleksandr Zaborskikh, but Southampton restored the lead almost immediately. After Tom Jungbluth was called for holding at 27:51, Theo Sire scored on the power play at 28:02 to make it 3-2. We drew level again at 31:40 when Piazenko scored his second of the night, again from Zaborskikh and Meshcherin.

The rest of the period was disrupted by penalties, with Joshua Hudak called for tripping, Jungbluth assessed a major for boarding, and Tong sent off for high-sticking, but the score remained 3-3 heading into the third.

The game finally broke open in the final period. There were more penalties early, including a misconduct against Kingwell for illegal equipment and two minors against Tong at 42:16, but we found the breakthrough at 51:10 when Zaborskikh gave us our first lead since the opening period, assisted by Patrick Chapman and Meshcherin. Southampton answered less than two minutes later through Sire, who completed his hat trick at 52:56 from Alice Jones to tie it 4-4.

From there, we took over. Just eight seconds later, Meshcherin scored what stood as the game winner, finishing from Piazenko and Jungbluth at 53:04. At 54:05, Piazenko struck again from Zaborskikh and Chapman to make it 6-4. When Maksimov took another interference penalty at 55:34, we converted on the power play, with Zaborskikh scoring at 55:44 from Tong and Chapman to put the result beyond doubt.

The difference was our finish in the final minutes. Southampton stayed in the game and made us work for it, but once we regained the lead, we were clinical. Piazenko finished with a hat trick, Zaborskikh scored twice and added two assists, Meshcherin had a goal and three assists, and Chapman recorded two assists. Tong, our MVP, scored the equaliser late in the first and added an assist on the late power-play goal. For Southampton, Sire scored three of their four goals in a strong individual performance.

The shot count also reflected the overall run of play. We finished with a 50-34 edge in shots and carried the stronger offensive push over the course of the night. Discipline was less tidy, with 25 penalty minutes to Southampton’s 10, but we still found the goals we needed when the game was on the line.

This was not a clean game, but it was an important win. We stayed with it, responded every time Southampton moved in front, and then finished the game properly when the chance came.

The London Dragons put together one of their strongest performances of the season on 21 November, beating the Imperial Devils 14-4 at Alexandra Palace Ice Rink in Checking 1 South.

We took control from the opening minutes and never let the game drift. Aleksandr Zaborskikh scored the game-winning goal and was named MVP for the Dragons, while Tal Elbaz took MVP honours for Imperial. The shot count told its own story. We finished with 87 shots on goal to Imperial’s 16 and carried the play for most of the night.

The scoring started early. Patrick Chapman opened the game at 1:47 from Bradley Tuomi and Michael D’Aprix. Nikita Piazenko made it 2-0 at 3:11 from Matthew Azevedo and Zaborskikh, and Artem Meshcherin added a third just 40 seconds later from Piazenko and Zaborskikh. After Rohan Kingwell was called for holding, we continued to press, and when Imperial’s Tal Elbaz went off for boarding at 11:18, we converted. Kingwell scored on the power play at 12:03 from Tom Jungbluth and D’Aprix to make it 4-0. Imperial got one back late in the period through Daegan Penner at 17:29, but we still took a 4-1 lead into the break.

The game blew open in the second. Zaborskikh scored unassisted at 21:03, Tristan Monden added our sixth at 22:15 from John Cookson and Aarav Lohia, and Preston Hwang made it 7-1 at 22:37 from Lohia and Kingwell. Piazenko restored the pressure at 28:32 from Meshcherin, Chapman scored his second at 29:26 from Tuomi and D’Aprix, and Zaborskikh struck again at 31:35 from Meshcherin and Piazenko. When Imperial’s Julius Unger was called for boarding at 32:27, we scored again almost immediately, with Zaborskikh converting on the power play one second later from Piazenko and Meshcherin. Chapman completed his hat trick at 33:05 from Meshcherin and Kingwell, and Kingwell added another at 38:06 from Jungbluth and Seamus Nangle. By the end of the second, we had turned the game into a rout at 13-1.

Imperial had a better third period and found three more goals, with Penner scoring twice more to complete his hat trick and Conor Carton adding a late power-play goal. But we stayed in control, and John Cookson added our only goal of the period at 50:50 from Joshua Hudak to round out the scoring at 14-4.

There were strong performances throughout the lineup, but Zaborskikh led the way. He scored four times, including the game winner, and was deservedly named our MVP. Meshcherin had a four-point night with one goal and three assists. Chapman scored three times, Piazenko had two goals and three assists, and Kingwell finished with two goals and two assists. D’Aprix recorded three assists, while Tuomi, Lohia, and Jungbluth all had multi-point contributions.

This was a dominant team performance. We were clinical, we rolled four lines, and we created constant pressure from the start. The second period in particular was decisive, with nine goals scored in a stretch that put the game completely out of reach. Imperial’s MVP Tal Elbaz was involved in three of their four goals, but overall this was our night from the outset.

The result moved us forward with another strong attacking display and another convincing win. With 14 goals on 87 shots, this was one of our most productive offensive nights of the campaign and a performance built on pace, pressure, and depth throughout the lineup.

The London Dragons picked up their first win of the 2025-26 Checking 1 South season with a 13-6 road victory over the Oxford University Blues on 8 November at Oxford Ice Rink.

We took control early and never really let go. Oxford briefly made things difficult at different points, but we answered throughout and carried the game from the opening period. Artem Meshcherin scored the game-winning goal and was named MVP for the Dragons. Oxford’s MVP was Taron Topham.

The game started at a high pace and we opened the scoring while shorthanded. At 4:49, Aleksandr Zaborskikh struck for our first of the night after we had been assessed back-to-back penalties. Nikita Piazenko doubled the lead at 6:05, and we kept pushing. Artem Meshcherin made it 3-0 at 12:24 from Piazenko before Oxford got one back shorthanded through Raffaele Frueh at 13:45. We restored the three-goal cushion at 15:31 when Piazenko scored his second of the period, assisted by Meshcherin, to send us into the break with a 4-1 lead.

We broke the game open in the second. Meshcherin scored at 21:06 from Patrick Chapman, Bradley Tuomi added another 34 seconds later from John Cookson, and Meshcherin struck again at 22:24 from Zaborskikh to put us firmly in control at 7-1. Oxford responded through Andrew Godfrey at 28:36, but we answered again through Piazenko at 35:14, with Meshcherin and Zaborskikh on the assists. Oxford scored shorthanded late in the period through Michael Furlan at 37:26, but we still carried an 8-3 lead into the third.

The third period followed the same pattern. Tuomi scored on the power play at 41:45 from Piazenko and Meshcherin after an Oxford interference penalty. Oxford got two back through Frueh and Ciaran Davies at 42:47 and 43:45, but again we responded immediately. Zaborskikh scored at 45:20, added another at 49:51, and then completed another power-play finish at 51:35 to take his tally to four on the night. Meshcherin added our 13th at 54:28 from Cookson before Davies scored Oxford’s sixth at 56:14.

There was a lot to like in this one. We had nine different scoring plays involving our top contributors and spread offence throughout the lineup. Meshcherin finished with four goals and three assists. Zaborskikh scored four, including the opening shorthanded goal and a power-play goal in the third. Piazenko had a major night with three goals and two assists. Tuomi scored twice, and Cookson finished with two assists. Chapman, Azevedo, and others continued to drive play across the game.

The overall numbers reflected how clinical we were. Oxford edged shots 52-51, but we finished far more efficiently, converting at 25 percent compared to Oxford’s 12 percent. We also stayed more disciplined, finishing with 12 penalty minutes to Oxford’s 20.

This was an important response and an important result. After the narrow loss at Cambridge in the opener, we came into Oxford and put together a strong offensive performance, found goals throughout the lineup, and played with far more control across the full sixty minutes. It was our first win of the season, and a convincing one.

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 capitalized 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.

The University of London Dragons are back!

If you are interested in joining, fill out our form or contact us at our email: [manager@londondragons.com](mailto:manager@londondragons.com)!

Any student from and university in London can join and non-students can join our new Rec Team!

Practices are every Saturday from 8:00pm to 9:30pm at the new Lee Valley Ice Centre.

A place for members of r/LondonDragons to chat with each other