Gold medal hockey game means early liquor serving hours for Vancouver bars

Canada defenceman Shea Theodore (27) celebrates his goal with Canada defenceman Travis Sanheim (6) during third period men's Olympic semifinal hockey action against Finland at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (Nathan Denette / The Canadian Press)

Canada versus the United States for Olympic gold. For hockey fans, it doesn’t get any bigger than this.

It could be better, though, if the game were at a more reasonable time of day.

The puck drops at Milan’s PalaItalia Santa Giulia arena at 2:10 p.m. local time on Sunday. That’s 8:10 a.m. in Toronto and 5:10 a.m. in Vancouver.

Bleary-eyed west coast hockey fans will begin gathering for watch parties before the sun comes up. Depending on where they’re doing it, though, they’ll still be able to order alcohol like they would during a game taking place in their time zone.

Licensed establishments in Vancouver can apply to extend their liquor-serving hours up to six times each year, for special events, and other cities in the province have similar rules in place.

Approval from both the local government and the provincial Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch is required.

After Premier David Eby announced the province will allow licenced establishments to open at 5 a.m., the City of Vancouver gave blanket approval Saturday afternoon for any licence holder in good standing to extend liquor service hours.

The list of venues that have decided to open at the crack of dawn is developing, but applications that had been sent to the City of Vancouver before it gave across the board approval provide an idea.

As of Friday evening, the City of Vancouver said it had received 15 applications to serve alcohol as early as 5:30 a.m. for Sunday’s game.

Of those, 12 had been fully processed and sent to the LCRB, with city staff still processing the other three, according to a statement from the city.

The following venues had received approval from both the city and the province as of Friday:

• Bells and Whistles Pub – 3296 Fraser St.
• Leopold’s Tavern – 1619 W Broadway
• Shark Club – 180 W Georgia St.
• Craft Beer Market Restaurant & Bar – 85 W 1st Ave.
• The Pint Public House – 475 Abbott St.
• Par-Tee Putt / Dublin Calling / Slate – 670 Smithe St.
• Steamworks Brewing Co. Kitchen & Taphouse – 2275 Main St.
• Roxy Burger – 910 Granville St.
• Parq Casino – 39 Smithe St.

These establishments had received city approval and were awaiting LCRB approval, according to the city:

• Sands Motor Hotel – 1755 Davie St.
• Rogers Arena – 800 Griffths Way
• Kelly O’Bryans – 1774 W 7th Ave.
• Joeys Grill & Lounge – 820 Burrard St.