The turf has been laid down at Olympic Stadium and all the Montreal Alouettes need to know now is which team they will face in the CFL East Division final - the Hamilton Tiger-Cats or the B.C. Lions.

The Alouettes, who move indoors to the 55,000-seat Big O for the playoffs from their regular season home at Percival Molson Stadium, were back to training on Saturday after earning a bye to the Nov. 22 East final by finishing first with a team record 15-3 season.

The Ticats and the Lions play the East semifinal Sunday in Hamilton.

"I just spent it relaxing, trying to heal up, get rid of old wounds, and trying to stay fresh," said cornerback Marc Estelle, one of 17 Alouettes named an East Division all-star this week. "I like having a bye week.

"You get to keep your team fresh and you lower your chance of injury. And you're guaranteed a spot in the second round, so you can't beat it."

It is the eighth time since 1999 and the second year in a row that Montreal has a bye to the division final. They are 5-2 thus far in those games, with the only losses in 1999 to Hamilton after a 12-6 season and in 2004 to Toronto after going 14-4.

Anthony Calvillo, the Alouettes' 37-year-old quarterback, sat out the final game of the regular season as back-up Adrian McPherson led the club to a win in Toronto. The team had a meeting the following day, and then coach Marc Trestman gave them five days off to rest up.

Calvillo, who had missed a game two weeks earlier against Winnipeg with a sore calf muscle, relished the break.

"I was here in town, getting treatment, working out, and trying to keep my body ready," said Calvillo, who described himself as 100 per cent fit. "I've done this many times before and at my age, I'm going to enjoy any extra week off."

There isn't a lot the team can do in practice until they know which opponent they will face, but Calvillo said the two-hour workout did him good.

"These next two days are just to get the kinks out," he said.

Of course, none of the Alouettes would bite when asked for a prediction on the East semifinal, but they know that neither B.C. nor Hamilton can be taken lightly.

In Game 9 of their 18-game schedule, the Alouettes lost 19-12 in Vancouver, although it ended in some controversy when a late Montreal touchdown was wrongly called back because officials thought the clock needed to be re-set.

A week later in Montreal, the Alouettes won 28-24 on a last-minute Avon Cobourne touchdown after B.C. took the lead at 7:16 of the fourth quarter.

The Alouettes went 3-0 against the Ticats, including a 42-8 win in Hamilton on Sept. 25. But the Ticats gave them a scare in Montreal on Oct. 18, losing a 41-38 decision despite Kevin Glenn picking the Als' defence apart for 506 passing yards and three TDs.

Defensive backs like Estelle will especially have their work cut out in either scenario, with Glenn gunning the ball for the Ticats and former league MVP Casey Printers now back with the Lions.

"They both have great receivers," Estelle said. "Hamilton's got (Preachae) Rodriques and (Arland) Bruce and a couple of other guys that get the job done, and B.C. has Geroy (Simon), Paris (Jackson)and a couple of young guys as well.

"But it all goes off how the quarterback plays that week. They're pretty similar on offence. We'll be watching the game and, once we see who wins, we'll get to studying them."

Calvillo said much the same about the defences.

"Both teams mix it up - they aren't predominantly a man-to-man or a zone team," he said. "They've both got great defensive linemen. So either way, it's going to be a challenge."

One benefit of the bye is that injured players have a chance to heal. Such was the case with defensive tackle Eric Wilson, who was back on the field, although wearing a brace on the right knee he dislocated late in the season against the Bombers.

"Definitely - I knew a week ago I was going to play," he said. "But I had to pass the MRI, x-rays, all that good stuff.

"I did that on Tuesday and everything went well. The doctor was a little shocked at how good the knee is, but I told him it was that Wolverine blood from Michigan. They drained about 110 cc's of blood out of my knee and next day we started rehab."

Wilson sees the Ticats and Lions as different threats - Hamilton through its air attack and B.C. on the ground. In their Sept. 4 meeting, Lions tailback Martell Mallett ran for 213 yards on 21 carries, although he was held to 66 yards on 14 tries in the return match a week later.

"Both teams have given us a challenge," he said. "Kevin Glenn put up more than 500 yards on us.

"B.C. - I didn't play that game - but they ran all over us. It's two different teams, one ran all over us and one threw all over us."

Trestman spent his time off back home in North Carolina with his family and returned to mostly good news on the health of his club.

Linebacker Diamond Ferri, who injured an ankle late in the season, wasn't able to practise but he may be ready by mid-week.

"Health-wise it looks good for our team," Trestman said. "We get through the week of practice and keep everybody safe and we'll have a good chance of having everybody up and healthy."