First comes the phone call. Then the hour-long van ride on the Mass. Turnpike to the Boston airport. After that, the six-and-a-half hour flight to San Francisco. Finally, a second hourlong freeway ride to San Jose — often in another shared van.

Just another day on the Sharks’ Worcester Shuttle.

But the players doing the shuttling insist their focus isn’t on the travel logistics.

“It’s out of my control,” said Jamie McGinn, whose 20 appearances in the small agate type of the daily transactions leads all Sharks. “I just have to play hard and make sure I’m doing the right things when I’m here and in Worcester.”

But there can be a mental toll in addition to the physical one.

“When you get sent down, you can’t take it as a negative,” defenseman Derek Joslin said. “You take it as a steppingstone and when you come back up, you play as hard as you can and try to contribute.”

For Joslin, there’s also the matter of adjusting to a different role in each league.

“When I go down to Worcester, I’m playing 25-plus minutes a night. I’m on the first power play and first penalty kill and counted on offensively and defensively,” he said. “Up here I get maybe 15 minutes a night, and I’m depended on to play simple hockey — move the puck and defend.

“You’ve got two different roles on both teams,” he added, “but the systems are the same, so that makes it easy.”

What about the fact their paychecks are significantly smaller when they’re in the American Hockey League?

“I don’t think that guys going up and down worry about that part of it,” said Frazer McLaren, whose pro-rated salary drops by nearly a half million dollars when he is in the minors. “Obviously making extra money is nice, but most guys are focused on their play up here and staying up here.”

Most of the players traveling back and forth have come up with a living arrangement that suits the situation. While the team provides a hotel room in San Jose, several of them are renting a large house in Worcester that can accommodate however many happen to be there at the same time.

Defenseman Mike Moore keeps track of the finances with everybody sharing responsibilities for stocking the refrigerator. Good thing he’s a Princeton alum.