The bars and eateries lining West Seventh Street are generally thought of as places to go before and after hockey games, and not often listed among the highly-regarded breakfast establishments in the Capital City.
For one day anyway, with Olympic gold on the line, that’s going to change.
Team USA faces off versus their neighborhood rivals from north of the 49th parallel at 7:10 a.m. Minnesota time on Sunday morning, with the Americans seeking their first Olympic title since the famed Miracle On Ice in 1980. And with three Minnesota Wild players wearing red, white and blue, along with several more from the State of Hockey on the team, bars and restaurants throughout the region will be making adjustments to accommodate the fans.
“We’re going to be open at 6:30 in the morning,” said Tom Reid, the Wild broadcaster and namesake of his Hockey City Pub, located two blocks from Grand Casino Arena.
They normally open at 11 a.m. on Sunday, but with Team USA playing for gold for the first time in 16 years, exceptions are being made.
“We’ll have breakfast sandwiches and our full menu as well,” Reid said.
Although if you want a screwdriver or an oatmeal stout, you will have to wait until the first intermission. Per Minnesota state law, beer, wine and liquor may not be served at on-sale establishments until 8 a.m. on Sunday. At least one area restaurant manager thinks a one-day, one-hour exception is in order.
“We should definitely have that. How many times is the U.S. playing Canada for the gold medal? This is bigger than the Stanley Cup,” said Julia Flaherty, manager of Joseph’s Grill on Plato, across the river from downtown St. Paul. They will open at their normal time for a Sunday, 7 a.m., and have been experiencing big crowds for all of the Olympic men’s and women’s games so far.
An email to Governor Walz’s communications office regarding the idea of an earlier liquor serving time on Sunday was not immediately returned.
A few miles to the south in Inver Grove Heights, the folks at B-52 Burgers & Brew experimented with early openings on Sunday for the Minnesota Vikings games played in Europe in September and got good crowds. On Friday night when they announced their 7 a.m. Sunday opening for the hockey game, manager Michael Pitsiladis said the Facebook post got more than 400 likes almost immediately.
“We do brunch every Saturday and Sunday, we’re just starting it earlier,” he said, noting that the huge response on social media caused them to ramp up their staffing. “We were planning on opening with just one server and one bartender, but now we’re having a full crew on hand.”
And from the sounds of things, they will be busy early, even if they’re just serving coffee and orange juice for the first hour.
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