The New York Islanders traded the ice for a room full of wagging tails Friday morning, welcoming puppies to UBS Arena for the 10th annual Pucks and Paws Calendar photo shoot with the Guide Dog Foundation.
For the players, it was a light lift after practice and a feel-good one at that. Adam Pelech, who has a Chihuahua-Dachshund mix named Duke, said the experience meant more than just a few minutes of puppy time.
“It's great,” Adam Pelech said, who has a Chihuahua-Dachshund mix named Duke. “All these dogs are going to go on to have very important roles helping people. It's great to be part of something like that, but also, it's fun for us to just be around all of them.”
The shoot brought together current and future service dogs for photos that will land in the calendar, which goes on sale Nov. 25. The proceeds will benefit the Guide Dog Foundation.
The day also included the team’s seventh Puppy with a Purpose, another addition to a program that has become a fixture in the Islanders’ community work.
John Miller, the CEO and president of Guide Dog Foundation and America's VetDogs, pointed to the partnership’s reach and its Long Island roots.
“The partnership is just tremendous,” said Guide Dog Foundation and America's VetDogs CEO and President, John Miller. “Everything we do is free of charge for veterans, first responders, and people who are blind, but at the end of the day, partnerships like this help bring awareness and funding to our organization.
And really, the Islanders were pioneers in this space too. They were our very first Puppy with Purpose, and now we have over 75 of them, and we're in all the major professional spaces.
It all started here on Long Island with the Islanders.”
That free service matters because raising a service dog comes with major expense, and the foundation covers those costs completely through the partnership.
The impact has already shown up in the lives of veterans like John O’Connell, who is Butchie’s recipient. Butchie served as the Islanders’ Puppy with a Purpose during the 2024-25 season and now helps O’Connell every day on his commute. He also lets O’Connell get on the ice and play blind hockey.
“When I've taken him to the rink, and he's been on the bench, the only thing he does is put his paws on the side, and he just wants to track me on the ice,” O’Connell said. “I'm not looking for him to track me; he just needs to sit there, do whatever, and all he wants to do.
So that's the relationship. It's good, it's a good bond, but he's an excellent guide dog.”
The event was just as much fun for the Islanders as it was for the puppies. Kyle Palmieri, who has a seven-year-old pit mix named Piper, said the morning delivered on both the fun and the purpose.
“That was awesome, and the dogs are excited,” Palmieri said. “Obviously, they're for a really good cause, and I think they help a lot of people. So, they're having some fun with it today, and hopefully they enjoyed it as much as we did.”
The Islanders’ newest puppy, whose name fans will get to vote on, will now begin a year-long training journey to one day help a visually impaired person. It’s the seventh puppy in the New York Islanders Puppy with a Purpose Program.
Follow @nyislespup on Instagram to stay tuned on the new puppy’s journey with the Isles!
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