Warmup ritual a precursor to the game for Gourde

Yanni Gourde is known as the ultimate puck chaser for the Tampa Bay Lightning, his energy and relentlessness pursuing the vulcanized rubber disk a huge asset for the Bolts and one of the reasons he's put up one of the finest rookie seasons in Lightning history with 24 goals and 58 points.
Turns out, Gourde's puck tracking doesn't just begin at the opening face-off.

Pay close attention to Tampa Bay's warmup and you'll see what I mean.
The lights dim, the music starts, the Tesla coils fire and that night's starting goaltender leads the Lightning onto the ice to start pregame. The players spend a few minutes skating around and shooting at the net. Once it's time to begin line rushes, Gourde is the player tasked with collecting all of the pucks, centralizing them in one area inside the net and dishing them out three or four at a time to center ice.
The job used to belong to Brian Boyle. But he was dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs at last season's trade deadline. When Gourde was recalled from Tampa Bay's AHL affiliate in Syracuse a few days later, Bolts defenseman Victor Hedman approached him about taking over Boyle's duties.
"(Andrej Sustr) was doing it after Boyler left, but he didn't like it," Gourde said following Tuesday's practice session at AMALIE Arena. "As soon as I got called up, they asked me if I wanted to do it. I was doing it in Syracuse, so I said, 'Yeah, for sure.' I like doing that stuff. It just gets me more touches, more involved in the pregame skate. I like that."

Gourde's job doesn't end there, however.
After line rushes and some more shooting, about 10 players spread out and form a semi-circle a few paces inside the blue line for another drill. Gourde grabs a puck out of a pile and begins by passing the puck to one of his teammates, who skates in a few strides and takes a shot on the goalie in net. If the shot misses, Gourde has to track down the rebound, often sidestepping other teammates who are off to the side working on their stickhandling or skating. Sometimes the puck can get lost amongst all the other pucks on the ice, but Gourde makes sure the puck he chases is the same one being used in the drill.
Once he retrieves it, he passes to a second teammate to shoot, and the process begins again.
Shot, chase, pass
Wash, rinse, repeat
Once someone scores, Gourde selects a new puck out of a pile behind the goal, and the drill continues.
It's a workout for Gourde. Sometimes the puck ricochets off the crossbar or fires around the boards nearly halfway down the ice. Gourde still has to go get it.
"Until it crosses the red line," he said. "If it crosses the red line, then I just let it go. But if it doesn't, I like to keep the same puck."
How is it that Gourde has to do all the work while the rest of the guys get to stand in one spot until it's their turn?
"That's a lot of skating for me," Gourde admitted. "I chase the puck basically. That's what I do during the games, so I might as well start it before the game too. But, it's actually pretty hard because every guy goes in a certain order and I've got to manage that. Sometimes I miss a guy and completely forget about it, and I'm like, 'Oh, I forgot this guy.' Last night I actually forgot Kuch."
Two stalls away, Cory Conacher's ears perk.
"You forgot me," Conacher chimes in.
"I usually forget Conacher, but that's on purpose," Gourde jokes.
If you're watching from the stands, it might appear Gourde randomly chooses which player to pass the puck to during the drill.
You'd be wrong.
"There's a certain order," Gourde said. "At some point, I just make it up, but the first few guys there's usually an order. I know who's going first. I know who's going second and third. At seven or eight, it's just pick a guy at the end there."
So what's the order?
"You've got to start with Stammer and Cally usually," Gourde said. "They switch after a win or loss. After that, it's Kuni and then you've got Pally now that he's back [from injury] and G, no actually Heddy then G. It's tough to say right now because I'm usually circling and I know, 'Oh, it's this guy.' I just turn and I know, okay, pass it to this guy."
Gourde gets his turn too, every so often one of his teammates passes the puck back to him so he can get a shot in.
But, of course, after the shot Gourde has to go track it down.
"I'm doing a lot of work in that particular drill," he laughed. "I don't mind it. It just gets me skating, and I get going. It's actually fun. I feel the puck and pass it to the guys and go get it. I just feel like I'm involved."