“Anybody who has played a year pro is going to say that they’re more confident going in,” said Black. “I’m definitely more comfortable knowing the city of Charlotte and the staff and stuff like that. Overall if you feel more comfortable you’re going to play better. It goes a long way.”
Black was part of a three-pronged approach between the pipes for Charlotte last season - first with Ken Appleby and Chris Driedger, then with Kaapo Kahkonen slotted in for the latter. The rookie had the least-frequent usage of the netminders (save for Kahkonen, who joined the team at the trade deadline), but was stellar when called upon, posting an 11-4-1 record with a 1.98 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage.
“We put him in some tougher situations,” said head coach Geordie Kinnear. “He answered the call every single time.”
Upon acquiring Kahkonen, the Checkers shifted to predominately deploying their two veteran netminders - Black would start four of the team’s final 18 regular season games and served as the third goalie for the playoff run.
“Even though I wasn’t starting or backing up, I was able to watch from off the ice,” said Black. “And I was working with the goalie coach the whole time so for me, even from the last game of the regular season to when our season finally ended in mid June, I was working. I’m a different goalie now than I was in my last game.”
Soaking up all those lessons was exactly what the coaching staff wanted to see from that scenario.
“These players learn more from watching than they do by listening to us,” said Kinnear. “He watched how Kaapo carried himself each and every day - away from the rink, at the rink, at practice. That’s how you truly learn if you’re a student of the game. Blacky is a student of the game so I’m sure he picked that up. He learned a lot last year.”
After gleaning everything he could in year one, the time has come to put it to use in year two.
“Now part of his development is to continue down that path,” said Kinnear. “We’re just looking for him to take another step.”
A key part of that next step is preparing for the grind that earning more of a workload can bring with it.
“Consistency in practice and off the ice,” said Black of his focus heading into this season. “Anytime someone’s a rookie there might be a game or two where you don’t feel like you played your best. The biggest thing about being a pro is finding a way to bring it every night. I think that’s going to be my big key for this year, just being consistent and making the guys in front of me better.”
“When you get more games and things sometimes don’t go your way, you have to be mentally tough,” said Kinnear. “The mental toughness will be added to that, because it’s not always going to go your way.”
Charlotte is starting the season with a completely new situation between the pipes. Black and AHL-contracted Evan Cormier are the two returners, while Florida draft pick Kirill Gerasimyuk and AHL-contracted Michael Simpson have come aboard alongside Brandon Bussi - who is still at the Panthers’ camp.
With a chance to stand out and claim a share of the crease in front of him, Black is ready to put his year of experience to work.
“Going into the season I feel confident,” he said. “I’m trying to take what I learned from the vets last year and carry that forward.”
