The Montreal Alouettes have held a first practice session for the Canadian Football League East final they will play against the Toronto Argonauts on Sunday, with the apparent aim of conserving their energies for that clash.

Danny Maciocia’s team left helmets and shoulder pads in the dressing room to maximize the mental aspect of their preparation on Wednesday near the Olympic Stadium.

“I wouldn’t say that we want to take it easy, but that we want to take care of our players,” the coach replied to this question. We want to hold our legs and be physically and mentally ready to compete on Sunday. We don’t want to be a team that leaves Montreal tired. So we take care of our players. »

“Nevertheless, the training we had today can be very good mentally, for use on the field and in all phases of the game.

The Montreal team will hold more “physical” sessions later this week, according to the coach.

” [Mercredi], it’s more of a mental workout, but there are two more to come. The pace will be a little higher and we’ll get going. »

The goal of this lighter workout is obviously to give the Alouettes every chance to continue their swing. The team is through its last two games, including its first playoff win in eight years. Apparently, she wants to repeat the “feat” at BMO Field on Sunday at 1 p.m., making it a first Gray Cup final since her last title in 2010.

“I see it as an opportunity,” said the coach. It doesn’t happen every day and it doesn’t happen to everyone. So you have to take advantage of it. »

We want to hold our legs and be physically and mentally ready to compete on Sunday.

But the team does not have to accept a slump in the second half like in the 28:17 victory against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Eastern Semi-Final.

“We have looked at the tapes and it is certain that they [les entraîneurs] “Made some changes as we also struggled in the third quarter due to an outage in our communications system,” said veteran security guard Kristian Matte. There were several factors to explain this. »

“But in the Canadian league, a 22-6 lead is easy to regain,” Matte continued, recalling the result on the board after two quarters last Sunday. We cannot fall asleep to this kind of progress. To be honest, we had problems after halftime this season. On the other hand, we have proven in the past few weeks that we are capable of doing this. You have to admit it: her [les Tiger-Cats] have played well. But we have to correct mistakes and we have to play 60 minutes, not 55 or 45. We’ve talked about it since the beginning of the season. We’re progressing; hopefully it lasts until the end. »

Danny Maciocia’s men are in pretty good shape for this duel, but a few elements might be missing.

This is especially true for linebacker Micah Awe, who missed the game against the Tiger-Cats. Awe did not attend training on Wednesday and Maciocia doubts he will see him in uniform this weekend.

Defensive lineman Tommy Costigan, injured in the Eastern semifinals, also missed practice. However, the coach could not say more about his state of health.

However, linebacker Tyrell Richards was back on the field.

“He will be available for the game but I don’t know if he will be in uniform,” Maciocia said.

To see in the video