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An hour before the sun is up in Ontario on Sunday, restaurants and bars will be allowed to start serving alcohol to excited hockey fans.
To coincide with the Canadian men’s ice hockey gold medal game, the provincial government will temporarily change licensing rules to allow alcohol sales to begin at 6 a.m.
“The entire country will be watching on Sunday morning as our men’s hockey team plays for Olympic gold,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford wrote in a social media post after Canada narrowly beat Finland to advance.
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“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. EST. Let’s all come together, support local businesses and cheer on Team Canada!”
Ontario normally allows alcohol sales from 9 a.m. until 2 a.m., with extended hours for New Year’s Eve.
An exemption in the act allows Toronto to decree its own opening times, which have been set to 6 a.m. since the beginning of the Olympics.
The gold medal game will begin at 8:10 a.m. on Sunday.
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