"I don't know how she knew that was an actual thing to hug and kiss the Cup," Gourde said, laughing "She did that on her own. It was super cute."
Gourde said it was "unreal" to see his name etched on the Stanley Cup. With the offseason coming later in the calendar year because of the pause to the National Hockey League season, the Lightning are the first team ever to have their names on the Cup by the time they get to have their day with it. The Cup was taken to Montreal in early November for engraving.
"Being on the same Cup as so many talented players and legends of hockey that my name is next to them, it's very special," Gourde said.
After spending two hours taking "every combination possible of pictures," the group headed to American Social where they boarded a yacht with the Cup for a five-hour cruise back-and-forth under the Sunshine Skyway and through the mouth of Tampa Bay, stopping briefly to anchor and take a dip in the warm Gulf of Mexico waters.
They arrived back in Tampa in time to catch the sunset from downtown and then shifted the celebration to Eddie V's, where they filled the bowl with ice and created a championship-style seafood tower of shrimp, crab legs and lobster tails.
"We were just going and picking whatever we wanted to eat from the Cup. It was pretty cool," Gourde said.
The party at Eddie Vs lasted until midnight when Gourde had to surrender the Cup, his day with it over.
"The Cup has a curfew at 12," Gourde said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has limited where players are able to go with the Cup and how many people are allowed to participate in the festivities. Had the offseason been a normal one, Gourde said he would have taken the Cup to his hometown of Saint-Narcisse, Quebec to allow the community to share in the Cup celebration.
The modified day allowed for a more intimate experience with the Cup, however.
"The whole 14 hours we had the Cup, it was special from the beginning to the end," Gourde said. "I'm so glad I was able to do that and bring my family and they got to be there. I don't know how many times they told me it was the best day of their life."
The day with the Stanley Cup was the highlight of a busy weekend for Gourde and his family, a weekend he and his wife spent a week-and-a-half planning. They ordered takeout every night and ate at Gourde's house. His guests stayed at the Marriott Water Street and had a shuttle bus taking them between Gourde's house and the hotel and all over the Bay Area. Some of the group played golf at Streamsong. Another day was spent at the beach.
"The whole weekend was so much fun," Gourde said.
