HALIFAX, March 14

Alberta's entry staged a championship-final upset at the Tim Hortons Brier on Sunday night, defeating previously unbeaten Ontario 6-5 to claim the title.

The newly-crowned champs duplicated a feat authored by Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard in the last Olympic-year Brier at Regina in 2006.

Menard defeated Ontario's Glenn Howard in that final. Howard had lost only one game prior to that final.

The victory moved the Kevin Koe-skipped Edmonton unit of Blake MacDonald at third, Carter Rycroft at second and Nolan Thiessen at lead , into Team Canada jackets and a berth in the Capital One World men's championship, April 3-11 at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

The win was a Brier first for Koe. He was a rookie skip at the national-championship level.

The loss was Howard's third in four Canadian championship finals. His only win was in 2007 when he defeated Brad Gushue of Newfoundland/Labrador in the final at Hamilton.