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Raised so far
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Home / The line of defense: Meet the Caps shot blockers driving donations for Good Dogs for Great Americans
On Oct. 29, Good Dogs for Great Americans hit its first major milestone: $50,000 raised—enough to fund our first service dog and veteran team. Every dollar came from a simple formula: each blocked shot by the Washington Capitals generates a $250 donation to America’s VetDogs, an organization that trains service dogs for veterans who need them most.
It took the Washington Capitals just 12 games to reach the milestone. And with 84 games in a regular season, the blocks are just getting started.
In hockey, only two skaters on the ice carry the title of defenseman, but with lightning-fast puck movement and shots reaching 80 to 100 miles per hour, protecting the net is everyone's responsibility. Every player understands the same thing: when everyone contributes, the team succeeds.
Still, blocked shots rarely earn the spotlight. They aren’t as breath-hitching as goals or as thunderous as hits along the boards. In fact, they weren’t even officially tracked by the NHL until the mid-2000s. Yet they represent one of hockey's purest acts of teamwork: willingly absorbing the impact of a puck traveling at lightning speed for the good of the team. Like so many who serve a larger mission, the sacrifice is simply part of the responsibility. Headlines are not customary, but the impact is always game-changing.
The Caps average just under 17 blocked shots per game, the highest in the NHL. Working together, Caps skaters prevent roughly 30% of opponents' shot attempts from reaching the crease, reducing the workload on their netminders before a save is even required. That’s why we chose the Capitals as our partner for Good Dogs for Great Americans. Every one of those blocked shots becomes a donation, turning defense on the ice into support for veterans off the ice.
Here are some of the players and the moments that have powered Good Dogs for Great Americans.
Martin Fehérváry (left) and Timothy Liljegren (right) — pictured here with service dog-in-training, Bravo — are the Caps leading shot blockers so far this season.
In hockey, defense happens in pairs. Two defensemen work in tandem, relying on trust and chemistry to patrol the blue line. Much like the service-dog and veteran partnerships the Caps’ defense helps fund, success is built on teamwork and connection.
This season, no Caps pairing has been as impactful as Martin Fehérváry (#42) and Timothy Liljegren (#27). It’s their second season together as teammates, but Fehérváry and Liljegren aren’t strangers. While the two spent their teens playing against one another in Sweden, they have quickly gelled into a dominant defensive pairing.
The numbers don’t lie. Fehérváry and Liljegren rank No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, on the Caps blocked shot leaderboard. Of the 234 blocked shots recorded by the Capitals this season, Fehérváry leads the way at 35, with Liljegren close behind at 30. Together, they account for 28% of the team's total blocked shots and have generated over $16,250 for America’s VetDogs so far.
While blocked shots by defensemen often go unnoticed, this block last week was impossible to miss.
During the Capitals’ October 28 matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers, forward Ryan “Leno” Leonard (#9) very suddenly found himself without a stick. So, Leno did the only thing he could: he got in the way.
Leonard blocked an incoming shot with his body, then kicked the puck clear of the danger zone. Still not done, he scooped up his stick and sent Flyers’ defenseman Hunter McDonald (#19) crashing into the boards behind the net.
Gritty, unflinching, and a bit brazen — the effort earned Leno the CACI On Defense Blocked Shot of the Week. His play not only gets our vote for the most memorable block of the season but serves as a reminder that there are few acts more courageous than putting your body on the line for teammates.
Watch Leno’s stickless blocked shot here.
Washington Capitals defenseman Matt Roy presented a jersey to CACI’s Gino Bona on July 15, 2026, in celebration of the launch of Good Dogs for Great Americans.
Capitals defenseman Matt Roy (#3) is known for his unassuming but unrelenting style of play. He is everywhere on the ice, and he has built a reputation as one of the league’s most dependable defensemen.
Although an early-season lower-body injury put him on the sidelines for half of October’s schedule, Roy has been a defining player for Good Dogs for Great Americans since the very beginning. In July, he helped announce the program to CACI’s team at a leadership offsite in Nashville. During the season opener on Oct. 2, Roy blocked the first shot of the season — generating the first donation ever through Good Dogs for Great Americans. Then, after returning from injury, Roy ushered in another milestone, recording the Caps’ 200th blocked shot and officially pushing CACI’s donation total to $50,000 during last week’s road victory against the Nashville Predators.
The event was attended by members of the CACI Executive Leadership Team. Representatives from America’s VetDogs, including CEO John Miller, were also present. Caps alumni Peter Bondra, Craig Laughlin, and Alan May signed autographs and posed for selfies. But the dogs were the real stars of the show.
Keep following the Capitals’ progress throughout the season and learn more about the service dogs, veterans, and stories behind Good Dogs for Great Americans at CACIGoodDogs.com.
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