It appears that calling the check_date method with anything other than three arguments, such as the case when the @date array above is empty, the module dies with the suggested function usage and arguments.
Fortunately, you can catch the error by using eval (remember: eval STRING is slow (and evil), eval BLOCK is not.). If check_date succeeds, it will still return true. (Eval returns the whatever its string or block returns - which is the last evaluated value if there's no explicit return)
unless (eval { check_date @date }) {
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W5kIHBhY2soKS4gQnV0IGRvIHlvdS
ByZWNvZ25pc2UgQmFzZTY0IHdoZW4
geW91IHNlZSBpdD8gIC0tIEp1ZXJk
