BARRIE, ONT. -- The wait is finally over. After months of a sports drought, the NHL is back.
Local bar owners are hoping to cash in on the exhibition portion of the NHL's return.
Twenty-four teams will compete for one of the most coveted trophies in sports, and for business owners, it couldn't come at a better time.
"I've been watching the calendar since last March, wondering when it was going to start. We're really looking forward to it, and I think it's going to be huge for us," said The Ol' West Wing owner Chris Nelson.
Nelson spent $200,000 on renovations for his bar on Ferndale Drive in Barrie earlier this year, only to be forced to close the doors shortly after reopening.
Now, with the NHL's season restart, he's expecting a return to some sort of normalcy.
"People need sports, all sports. Baseball, hockey, but especially hockey because we're Canadian," Nelson said.
Meanwhile, Moose Winooski's on Bayfield Street in Barrie has more than a dozen televisions turned in to every sports game going.
"We definitely get a lot of people coming in to watch hockey, especially sitting at the bar with all the TVs we have. But it's going to definitely be a lot different having the hockey on in the summer," said Moose Winooski's manager Haley Smith.
Smith said the return of Major League Baseball also meant a return of ball fans to the bar stools.
Now with hockey back, she's expecting even more enthusiasm. "I think most people have been missing out on hockey," Smith added. "Having it back is going to just make it a little bit better for everyone, I guess."
The quest for the Stanley Cup officially starts on Saturday.