MONTREAL – The Habs have been hitting the gym hard in the last few weeks, getting set for the coming season. Part of their regimen will now include a healthy dose of newly appointed strength and conditioning coach, Pierre Allard.

Allard knows exactly what it takes to excel as a high performance hockey player. The dual Canadian and French citizen played professionally in France and England for 10 seasons, spending seven years as a member of the French national team. In 1998, Allard helped lead les bleus to an 11th place finish at the Nagano Olympics.

After hanging up the skates in 2003, the Montreal native founded Allard Training, Inc., a strength and conditioning company geared specifically at hockey players. The level 3 NCCP certified coach currently trains over 40 players, including NHLers Bruno Gervais, Maxime Talbot and Kristopher Letang among others. Since graduating with his Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from the University of Montreal in 2006, Allard has worked with both the Rimouski Oceanic and as a consultant for the Hamburg and Berlin (DEL) German Elite League.

The new appointment won’t mark the first time in the Habs’ dressing room for the 38-year-old. Allard is making his return to the Canadiens family after an 18-year absence, having been invited to the team’s training camp back in 1992.

Shauna Denis is a writer for canadiens.com.

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