Ontario’s Glenn Howard wins the 2012 Tim Hortons Brier

Glenn Howard skipped his Ontario team from Coldwater to a second Tim Hortons Brier title in six years Sunday night, upending Alberta’s Kevin Koe 7-6 at Saskatoon’s Credit Union Centre.

Glenn Howard and Wayne Middaugh of Team Ontario (Photo: CCA/Michael Burns Photography)

The win avenged a 2010 final-game loss Howard sustained at the hands of Koe at the Halifax Brier. It was Howard’s second skipping win in six championship finals at the Brier. Directing third Wayne Middaugh, second Brent Laing and lead Craig Savill, the 49-year-old Howard was a prohibitive entering the final. Howard’s team was on an 11-1 streak while Koe was 10-3. And Howard owned a 17-4 career record against the Alberta skip. Middaugh, the 1998 world champion skip, joined the lineup this season to replace veteran Richard Hart who announced his retirement last spring. This victory ships the Howard team to the 2012 Worlds at Basel, Switzerland, March 31-April 8. Playing with Koe, of Calgary, were Pat Simmons, Carter Rycroft and Nolan Thiessen. The win guaranteed $144,000 in Sport Canada funding over a two-year period, $40,000 in TV cresting exposure, $40,000 from Own The Podium for training and competition expenses, and entries to the 2012 Capital One Canada Cup at Moose Jaw, Nov. 28-Dec. 2 and the World Financial Group Continental Cup at Penticton, B.C., Jan. 10-13.