Corbin Kaczperski’s iPhone wouldn’t stop buzzing.

The goaltender was all set to chat with a reporter asking about a remarkable turnaround to his season, turning a rough start in the Southern Professional Hockey League into an improbable, shutdown stretch with the ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders.

There’s now another chapter of the story to tell.

It was the American Hockey League’s Syracuse Crunch that was calling the 25-year-old. The team ultimately signed him to a PTO later that afternoon, potentially lining him up for his first action at the highest level of the minors.

The route to get to this point has been a circuitous one for the extremely personable netminder. A journey that started at Yale University during a successful three-year stay, and eventually saw him end up at the University of Denver to wrap up his college eligibility. The latter involved a battle with the NCAA to make it happen.

“My freshman year, I played 20 minutes of a scrimmage, so the NCAA said I didn’t have eligibility left, even though they gave everyone an extra year,” Kaczperski told FloHockey via cell phone.

“There was a whole process of having to appeal that, so I didn’t even know if I could go back and play in college again for another year. Long story short, Denver ended up getting the appeal done through the NCAA, so I ended up going there, and it was huge. That year was really instrumental for me, I had to learn a lot.” 

On the surface, it may seem like a small adjustment, but moving from the still very-strong ECAC to the more-skilled NCHC, even for a shorter stint, played a big part in helping the Michigan native get prepared for the next level.

“I still remember my first goal against in the NCHC,” he said through a laugh.

“It was Ethen Frank on Western Michigan who shot it, and it was like a nothing play. The guy crossed the blue line, kind of passed to the middle at the top of the circles area for a one-touch pass to Frank just inside the ‘Ovi spot’ for a one-timer, and I might as well have been in the opposite corner of the net for how slow I was getting across. I was so used to the ECAC speed, and I’m not ragging on the ECAC at all, but NCHC is just a whole ‘nother animal, and it was definitely an adjustment.”

Kaczperski credits working with former Pioneers goalie coach Corey Wogtech with helping him get up to speed. He managed a solid 2.60 GAA in nine games.

“I definitely needed that year in Denver before jumping into pro, so I’m glad it worked out the way it did,” he said.

For a while, it didn’t seem like much else would work out for Kaczperski once it came time for his professional career to get going. He was invited to training camp with the ECHL’s Worcester Railers on a tryout deal, but played in half of a preseason game and was one of the odd men out once the team’s AHL/NHL contracted goalies came back down. 

So, he ended up going to the Vermilion County Bobcats, with whom he’d signed earlier in the summer, just so the team could have his SPHL rights. Though he may have never expected to have to report there.

“Vermilion was fun, it’s a first year program in the ‘SP,’ so they have first year growing pains, but it was good to experience everything and get my first taste of pro,” Kaczperski said. “But it really did not go as well as I wanted it to if you see my numbers.”

A 1-5-2 record, 5.09 GAA and .877 save percentage might be the end of the road in most places. Instead, Kaczperski found himself playing for a supportive head coach, ECHL legend Nick Niedert, who helped get him an opportunity with the Heartlanders and urged teams to look past those numbers. 

There is no looking past his numbers now.

After a short return to Worcester in which he didn’t play, Kaczperski ended up signing with Iowa, and has been a revelation for the expansion franchise ever since. He’s posted a stunning .937 save percentage in his first ten games with the team, not only exceeding anyone’s expectations, but quickly cementing himself as the team’s number one goaltender.

How?

“I made two pretty significant changes in my game, and it’s been working,” he said. “It’s crazy how much easier the game is for me, and I think that’s been the main reason that’s been helping me. Obviously, my numbers were (bad) in the ‘SP,’ so it’s one of those things where my mindset was just wanting to get better every day.”

Those changes, Kaczperski says, were relatively simple ones. An old friend of his, Colin Walsh, was watching video and noticed that Kaczperski was pigeon-toed in his stance, which made him fight himself when he went down to the butterfly and decreased mobility in his hands. This both limited his ability to stop high shots and also affected how he could push on chances that require lateral movement. 

The other came by chance, as Kaczperski earned a quick, one-day trip to the American Hockey League’s Utica Comets. Their goaltending coach, Brian Eklund, noticed how over-aggressive Kaczperski was when challenging out on the flanks, coming too far out of the net too soon.

He’s adjusted to now come out when players reach the point between the blue line and top of the circles, which has vastly improved his angles. Combine the two, and his success in the “E” is more of a product of hard work and dedication to his craft than it is any sort of Cinderella story.

“For years, even going into college—my first year, I was doing well and had decent numbers, but only had like 12 games—the more I kept trying to learn about the game, it wasn’t translating, which was frustrating,” he said. “I felt like I was getting better, but it just wasn’t translating on the ice. But now, as soon as I made those adjustments, I think that first day in practice, I was barely even sweating, because I was moving so much less. I didn’t need to. It was one of those things where it’s like, I’m on to something here, let’s keep this up. It’s been awesome.”