Hit the Post with Rick Moffat

Do you think Marc Trestman can teach Old Dogs some new tricks? Or is he trying to shut out the Just For Laughs Festival? Alouettes players are surprised their annual Rookie Show has been cancelled. Ok so maybe it wasn't Comedy Festival yukfest, but it was a night when the players blew off some steam, made fun of their teammates and especially their coaches. But the tradition dies at Fort St. Jean. Coach Trestman wants players focused on their new playbooks, not trying to memorize their skits before they straggle back at curfew.



Can't say as I blaim the New Guy. Veteran players are impressed with how hard they're being pushed, and the last vestiges of the Don Mathews era "players coach" regimen is being beaten out of them. Old dogs are learning new tricks? They're barking at Fort St. Jean and take it out on the Argos Thursday night, live on CJAD 800.



I spoke to Maxim Lapierre just hours after his new two-year deal with the Canadiens was signed sealed and delivered. You're not a millionaire yet? I teased him? (Poor guy will only make $800-K in the 2nd year of the deal) "No but I got a one-way deal!," he proudly countered. That means Max is not likely to be seeing the Hamilton skyline anytime soon, unless of course the Habs are busing it from Buffalo to Toronto, like they do the odd time. Now the guys won't be able to tease Mad Max that he's gonna miss his stop, if the bus slows down near the giant flames of Stelco U. A one-way deal is Mr. Gainey's way of saying we have total confidence you'll belong to stay at the NHL level and we'll pay you that way.



So what was Max doing to celebrate his new deal? Having hung with Breezer at his Ferrari race on the weekend at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, the St. Leonard-born Lapierre was returning to his Repentigny roots and taking his folks out to dinner. Now that's the sign of good upbringing to me!





--Rick Moffat is the sports director at CJAD AM 800 and is the play-by-by voice of the Montreal Alouettes and the Montreal Canadiens.