Hockey

It won't quite be the Hockey Hall of Fame, but a large hockey-oriented facility being planned for next year's Winter Olympics could be close to providing that kind of allure to fans of Canada's national game.

With the world's top players, plus former stars and key hockey executives expected to be in Vancouver for the Games, an 80,000-square-foot gathering place for them all will be erected on Concord Pacific Place by Pacific Boulevard, within walking distance of the main Olympic hockey matches at GM Place.

While final details are still being polished ahead of an official announcement that could come as early as next week, at least part of the complex will be open to the public, sources said yesterday.

Official Olympic brewers Molson's, Hockey Canada and the International Ice Hockey Federation have been confirmed as co-sponsors of the entertainment and hospitality complex, while the National Hockey League and NHL Players' Association may also be part of the star-studded mix.

In an interview earlier this year, Jordan Bitove, president and CEO of VisionCo. that is handling marketing for the ambitious project, vowed the pavilion will be "absolutely the place to be at the 2010 Olympics. ... Hockey is the sport that unites us in Canada, so we're using hockey as the driving force behind it."

Mr. Bitove said the venue will be a prime gathering place for fans both before and after Olympic hockey matches.

While the hockey facility, capable of holding 4,000 people at any one time, may be the most popular, it is just one of many hospitality locations to be set up by official Olympic sponsors, individual countries and national Olympic committees in the vicinity of Games venues.

Most, if not all, will serve booze, prompting the provincial government to draw up special regulations to provide temporary liquor licences for organizations connected with the Olympics. One change from normal practice will permit children to be present in the sponsors' licenced hospitality pavilions.

The one-time arrangements are not available to those outside the so-called Olympic family, but few seem perturbed. "They're not going to be handing them out all over the place," said Ian Tostenson, CEO of the B.C. Restaurant and Foodservices Association. "I don't see it as an issue."