THE CANADIAN PRESS

MONTREAL -- The Montreal Alouettes are excited at the idea of finally playing on their own turf, but with the resurgent Hamilton Tiger-Cats in town, their home opener should be anything but easy.

The showdown between the CFL East Division rivals Thursday night will be the Alouettes' first official game in Percival Molson Stadium since the downtown facility at McGill University was expanded in the off-season by 5,000 seats to a capacity of just over 25,000.

You can see the game on TSN and TSN HD with coverage beginning at 7pm et/4pm pt.

To allow time for finishing touches to be applied, Montreal's first three regular-season games were played on the road, where they stumbled often but still returned with a 2-1 record after an overtime loss in Saskatchewan and wins in Edmonton and British Columbia.

"We're just excited to be at home," quarterback Anthony Calvillo said Wednesday. "We're 2-1 off a western road trip and we're very excited about that but it's not going to mean anything if we don't win at home.

"Nothing is guaranteed."

The Alouettes played a pre-season game a month ago at the stadium, which has had an extra deck built over the south side grandstand a permanent bleachers added to the east end zone.

Calvillo is curious to see how much more noise the extra fans will make when Hamilton quarterback Kevin Glenn is over the ball. For the last three weeks, it's Calvillo who has had to deal with crowd noise.

The Alouettes were 9-0 at home last season en route to a 15-3 record before beating Saskatchewan in the Grey Cup game.

But if there is a team to knock them off, it may be the Ticats (1-2), who are coming off a dominant 28-7 victory over Winnipeg last week.

Glenn was named CFL player of the week after tossing three touchdown passes while former Alouette Dave Stala was the top Canadian after hauling in nine catches for 124 yards.

With the East's stingiest defence thus far and a vast improvement in special teams led by dynamic returner Marcus Thigpen, Hamilton has visions of challenging Montreal's long dominance of the division.

"Especially after last season and the off-season and the camp we had, we feel good," said Ticats centre Marwan Hage. "Montreal's been on top for a while and we feel we're well matched to go in and give them a fight."

And the Alouettes may be vulnerable.

A drawback to playing on the road is that the team has had little chance to practise and coach Marc Trestman said it showed in the numerous penalties the Alouettes took, especially for pass interference, and the blown coverages and other mistakes they made in their first three games.

Even back home, they are on a short week and had only one practice day this week.

"We're not playing at the level we'd like," said Trestman.

Veteran slotback Ben Cahoon said under the circumstances, the Alouettes are relieved to come out of their road trip with a winning record. And he doesn't accept the notion that long road trips are a chance for a team to bond. The Alouettes stayed out west between their games five days apart in Edmonton and Vancouver.

"I don't see that it helped in any way," said Cahoon. "It's tough to play any road game and to play three in a row was tough on the team.

"Guys try to spin it and say we stayed together for as week and we grew and bonded, but I don't buy that at all. We weren't sleeping in our own beds and weren't in a routine or a schedule. I'm proud of the way this team has responded."

In B.C., the Alouettes pulled out a 16-12 win without scoring a touchdown.

"We moved the ball, we had our chances, we took our shots and we didn't come up with the plays," said Calvillo. "It's not a major concern, but as a unit, our main focus is to make sure we score touchdowns this week."

The Alouettes now have three straight home games, where they hope to get on a regular practice schedule and get their game together. After Hamilton, they play host to Toronto July 29 and Saskatchewan on Aug. 6.

The Ticats opened the season with a weak effort against Winnipeg then dropped a 23-22 decision to Calgary before rebounding with a big win over the Blue Bombers. Their big test comes now, as they face the Alouettes and then the Roughriders next week.

Hamilton coach Marcel Bellefeuille said the most improved part of his team, which was 9-9 last season, is special teams. Who could argue? Thigpen already has four TDs -- including scores on a kickoff, punt and missed field goal return.

"We've got better on the bottom third of our roster," Bellefeuille said. "Last year we went through the whole season without any special teams touchdowns.

"It's not just Marcus Thigpen, it's the guys blocking, the whole team that is making a difference."

The Alouettes will have linebacker Diamond Ferri back from injury. Hamilton has no major changes.