Ontario finished with a perfect round-robin record at the Tim Hortons Brier, and skip Glenn Howard believes his team is just getting warmed up.

Howard led his veteran rink to an 11-0 record heading into the playoffs this weekend with a 7-6 win over Kevin Koe’s Alberta rink in the Brier’s round-robin finale Thursday.

By defeating Koe, Howard’s foursome is on track to become the third straight team to run the table at the Brier.

“What I like the best is we started a little slow at the beginning of the week, but we have just gotten better and better,” Howard said. “My guys are making everything. It’s just a great feeling, from a confidence perspective, for all four of us.”

Team B.C. finished the round robin tied for seventh, with a 4-7 record.

Skipped by Kelowna’s Jeff Richard with third Tom Shypitka of Cranbrook, B.C. opened the day with an extra-end 8-7 victory over New Brunswick. They lost 6-3 to Prince Edward Island in the late draw.

Ontario will face Northern Ontario in the 1-2 Page playoff Friday night, with the winner earning a berth into Sunday’s championship game. Alberta will take on Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue in the 3-4 Page playoff on Saturday, with both knowing that no team has emerged from the 3-4 game to win the title.

“We feel like we’re playing good enough to definitely get to the final,” said Koe. “We just lost a tight one to Glenn, so that could have gone either way. I’m not overly worried about having to play extra games, for sure. It’s just nice to have that extra life.”

Howard had improved his record to 10-0 with a sound thrashing of the Northwest Territories/Yukon rink earlier in the day, a 9-3 win that secured top spot for Ontario. He pounded his northern opponent into submission by counting four in the eighth end, just one day after a four-ender sparked a big win over Manitoba.

Nobody on the ice this year can match Howard’s experience at the Brier. The 47-year-old, who for years fought to escape from the shadow cast by his legendary older brother, Russ, is competing in his 12th Canadian championship, and with a team that has played together for the last six years.

“We want to win every single game,” Howard said. “And now we’ve got to play Northern Ontario — who have obviously had a great Brier — so we’ve got our hands full.”