Meet Stanley, a black Labrador Retriever who flunks out of service-dog training, in this all-new companion novel to M. C. Ross's beloved Nugly and Smiley!

Stanley, an incredibly friendly black Labrador Retriever, wants nothing more than to be helpful. There's just one problem -- he's just flunked out of service dog school for being too friendly.

Charlie, a seventh-grade hockey player, wants nothing more than to be one of the best players in Boston. That'll be tough, though, considering he's just been demoted to the local B-tier team, the Charlestown Bunkeroos, for being too intense on the ice.

These two may seem mismatched. But when Charlie discovers that Stanley's object-retrieval training makes him a secret training weapon, and Stanley realizes that Charlie clearly needs an encouraging friend, these two might just form a friendship that takes Boston by storm. And if they can take the Bunkeroos to the top of the league while doing it? Well, that'd be a reward as great as any Stanley cup.