Sherbrooke, June 19, 2011 – With the Montreal Alouettes’ 2011 training camp slowly nearing its end, players and coaches can now be found gradually putting themselves into more and more of a game mode for the upcoming season. Proof of this was evident over the last two days of camp, given the amount of time allocated to special teams.
The Montreal formation practised all sorts of kicking and coverage plays, in addition to the usual work done on offence and defence.
“Marc (Trestman) has given us a lot of time to focus on special teams. He’s always stressed the fact that this facet of the game represents a third of the play in the CFL, and thus allows us to practice it accordingly,” explained Special Teams Coordinator Andy Bischoff, following the Alouettes’ Sunday practice.
“Although we always meet for 45 minutes a day to discuss special teams, today we also had time to practise a number of special situations, like short-range kicking, and other things that could potentially be the difference-maker between winning a game or not,” continued Bischoff.
The arrival of two new kickers can also explain the amount of time being dedicated to special teams.
“Sean (Whyte) had a good day today. He made six field goals in as many attempts, and was also excellent on kick-offs. He seems to be getting more comfortable with Ricky Santos holding the ball for him, and we’ve been making him kick a lot because we want the chemistry to be there for game day,” added Bischoff.
Already the end
Training camp ends Monday with one final practice scheduled to take place at Coulter Field at Bishop’s University from 8:15 a.m. until 10:45 a.m.
The Alouettes will then travel to Hamilton, where they will take on the Tiger-Cats at Ivor Wynn Stadium Wednesday evening, in what will be their final pre-season game of the off-season. Scheduled to kick-off at 7:00 p.m., the game will be broadcast live on RDS, TSN, CKAC, and CJAD.
Please note that the time and place of Monday’s practice are subject to change.
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