One Canadian province will be using the “it’s 5 o’clock somewhere” mentality for Sunday’s men’s hockey gold medal game against Team USA.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Friday that bars and restaurants across the province will be allowed to serve alcohol as early as 6 a.m. ET, ahead of the gold-medal match, which has an expected start time of 8:10 a.m. ET.
“The entire country will be watching on Sunday morning as our men’s hockey team plays for Olympic gold,” Ford posted to X Friday. “To help us all celebrate Team Canada, the province will be allowing bars and restaurants across the province to sell alcohol starting at 6:00 a.m. ET.
“Let’s all come together, support local businesses and cheer on Team Canada!”
Ford’s decision comes after some municipalities in the province, along with Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, brought about a motion to allow local cafes and restaurants to serve alcohol beginning at 6:00 a.m. ET during the 2026 Winter Olympics.
This is not the first time Ontario has bent the alcohol service rules by permitting sales across the province as early as 7 a.m. during the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023.
Ford allowing the sale for Sunday comes shortly after Team Canada secured its spot in the championship with a thrilling 3-2 comeback win over Finland on Friday.
With just 35 seconds left in regulation, Nathan MacKinnon scored the game-winning goal during a Canada power play, something that teammate Connor McDavid said was a year in the making.
“It was built through a lot, a lot of conversations over the course of a year, starting back at 4 Nations,” McDavid said of developing the power play, per The Athletic. “We’ve worked on this power play a lot, it’s something we’ve talked about a lot, and we do it for these big moments.
“We found a way to score a big one in a big moment.”
