Charlie the service dog drops puck at New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes game

Nov. 17 (UPI) -- A military service dog named Charlie dropped the puck Thursday before the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders game.

"Joining us for tonight's ceremonial puck drop, please welcome Charlie," the announcer said at Barclays Center. "Charlie is a black Labrador retriever currently in training with Americas' vet dogs to be paired up with one of our country's heroes."

Charlie carried the puck in his mouth from the box all the way onto center ice. He walked on a black carpet to avoid slipping.

"Charlie it's your puck drop," the announcer said.

The service dog then dropped the puck right between Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk and Islanders forward John Tavares.

"Charlie is a really good boy and he did a really good job of dropping the puck," the NHL tweeted Friday.

The Islanders gave some more information on Charlie after the puck drop.

"He was joined by members of the U.S. Army Special Forces group out of Fort Bragg to drop the ceremonial puck tonight," the team tweeted.

Charlie was given a round of applause and some treats after the puck drop. Both teams shook the hands of the service members in attendance for the game.

The black Labrador retriever was given to military veteran Stacy Pearsall on Nov. 9 on the Today Show. Pearsall is a former staff sergeant and aerial combat photojournalist for the United States Air Force. She was disabled after three combat tours and retired from military service.

The Islanders won Thursday's game 6-4 to improve to 10-6-2 on the season.