Florida Panthers rookie goalie Cooper Black — all 6-foot-9 of him — makes NHL history in debut

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Florida Panthers goalie Cooper Black skated onto the PPG Paints Arena ice alone during pregame warmups on Thursday night, a time-honored hockey tradition given to rookies everywhere. It took Black fewer strides to make the memorable lap than most. Call it one of the upsides of being 6-foot-9. Black made NHL history in his first career start when he became the tallest goaltender to ever appear in a regular-season game. Black is listed as two inches taller than Ben Bishop, Ivan Fedotov, Mads Sogaard and Mikko Koskinen, all 6-7. The 25-year-old from Alpena, Michigan, who started playing when he was 8 and had a 5-inch growth spurt between his junior and senior years in high school when he shot up from 6-0 to 6-5 and kept right on going, made 18 saves in a 4-0 loss. “It’s cool right, growing up, all the guys you kind of saw and watched as a kid, even as a goalie,” Black said. Cool experience to play against the guys, would have been nicer to win.” Black,