REGINA – It was a huge celebration for the Canadian women’s hockey team on Thursday.
The gold medal victory over the United States had patrons at Regina’s Lancaster Taphouse glued to the TV.
“Our entire bar stopped talking to each other,” said Judd Stachoski, Lancaster general manager. “We put the audio on nice and loud and we were rewarded by a big goal by Canada.”
It has the Lancaster applying to do it all again this Sunday for the gold medal men’s hockey game.
The only catch is that game will be played at 6:00 a.m. CT, which is three and a half hours before Saskatchewan bars can serve alcohol.
If Canada is in the Olympic finale, your local watering hole will need a special exemption to pour.
“It seems like a good Canadian thing to be doing – showing the Olympics in a sports bar,” said Corey Tyacke of Shark Club Saskatoon, which has received approval from the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA).
“Because we’re all across Canada, we wanted to make sure all our locations were showing the game.”
Making the request is simple, but officials from SLGA say it isn’t that common. There have only been a handful of applications, province-wide.
“We usually check their compliance history to see if they’ve had any problems in the past that may effect our decision,” said Stephanie Choma, an SLGA spokesperson.
“We generally check with the municipality as well to make sure there’s support for those hours.”
More requests are expected if Canada wins Friday’s semifinal.
If any pub owners are waiting for that to happen, SLGA expects to offer a decision in time.
But just like waiting for a game-winning goal, the sooner the better.
“It’s going to be wild,” said Tyacke. “We’ve brought some cow bells to be ringing, some clappers.”
“It should be a loud crowd early in the morning.”
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