Glenn Howard

Glenn William Howard (born July 17, 1962) is a Canadian curler who is one of the most decorated curlers of all time.

Howard lost two straight Ontario Junior Championship finals in 1980 and 1981, skipping a rink out of Midland, Ontario.

In both events there were no playoffs, but a tie for first place after the round robin forced a tiebreaker.

In 1980 he lost to John Kawaja and in 1981, he lost to John Base.

Howard won the 1984 Ontario University Athletics Association title skipping the University of Waterloo curling team.

Howard had a lot of success in his early career when he played third with his brother, Russ.

With Russ, Howard won the 1987 and 1993 Labatt Briers, and brought home gold from the 1987 and 1993 World Championships.

However, Russ would move to New Brunswick in the late 1990s, leaving Glenn in Ontario to form his own team.

He has also won the 2001 TSN Skins Game.

Glenn did return to play for his brother at the 2001 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials.

Glenn would be unsuccessful in returning to the Brier, losing back-to-back provincial finals (2004, 2005) until 2006 when he would triumph over former teammate Wayne Middaugh in the Ontario final.

He has won four world championships, four Briers and 17 Ontario provincial championships, including a record eight straight, from 2006 to 2013.

This qualified him for the 2006 Tim Hortons Brier.

His team of third Richard Hart, second Brent Laing, and lead Craig Savill dominated the 2006 Brier, finishing the round robin with only one loss.

However, the team was not successful in the final, losing to Quebec's Jean-Michel Ménard 8–7.

Howard's team dominated the 2007 season.

The team marched right through the provincial championships without losing a single game (none even going a complete ten ends).

At the 2007 Tim Hortons Brier, the team lost just one round-robin game to Alberta's Kevin Martin.

The team lost another in the Page playoff 1 vs. 2 game to Olympic gold medalist Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador.

However, in the re-match in the final, Howard beat Gushue 10–6.

Howard's team continued its dominance at the 2007 Ford World Men's Curling Championship.

The team lost just one game in the round-robin to Team USA (skipped by Todd Birr).

However, it avenged this loss by beating the Americans 7–2 in the Page playoff game and then winning the final over the Germans skipped by Andy Kapp 8–3.

In his attempt to repeat at the 2008 Tim Hortons Brier, Howard lost 5–4 in the final to Alberta, skipped by Kevin Martin.

Howard became only the second skip to win a career Grand Slam when he won the Canadian Open in 2009.

Howard again qualified for the 2009 Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary.

Many were looking forward to Howard's performance at the Brier.

Firstly, his older brother Russ was skipping the New Brunswick team, and secondly, a re-match with the rival Kevin Martin team.

Howard's rink finished the round robin in second place with a 9-2 record.

His last match of the round robin was against Martin, as was the first playoff matchup.

Howard lost both games, as well as his next playoff game against Jeff Stoughton's Manitoba rink.

Despite this, Howard is probably most remembered at the 2009 Brier for a shot regarded as one of the greatest in curling history.

In a round robin match against Saskatchewan, Howard was down by two with his last shot of the game.

He only had one shot to win the game.

Howard was facing two Saskatchewan stones, which were too far apart and too even to take out both.

Howard had three rocks in the 12 foot.

With his rock, Howard knocked one of his rocks onto another of his rocks, deflecting into one of the Saskatchewan stones, removing it while sticking, while his shooter rock had ricocheted off the first Ontario rock onto the other Saskatchewan stone, taking it out as well, while sticking too.

With those two Ontario rocks, plus the other one that remained stationary, Ontario scored three to win the game.

The shot was mentioned by Chris Plys on The Colbert Report during a curling segment.

Through 2017, he has played in 218 games at the Brier, more than any other curler in history.