HIGH ACHIEVERS: Timely advice guides Kieran Flannery-Fleck’s journey to Vanier Cup

By Martin Cleary

Advice.

It comes from friends, parents and coaches looking to provide a new direction for someone they care about.

Over the years, Ottawa’s Kieran Flannery-Fleck has had plenty of advice from important people in his circle. When something didn’t go quite right, someone would step forward to encourage him to try a different approach to see where that would take him.

Fortunately, Flannery-Fleck, 25, had an open mind and dared to move into the unknown multiple times. It took about nine years before he hit the nail squarely on the head and found his true home in sports.

On Saturday, he will lace up his placement kicker/punter/kickoff specialist cleats and aim for the U Sports national football championship, while playing for the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds, which is his third Canadian university football team since 2017.

The Vanier Cup will be played at Richardson Stadium in Kingston for the first time since its inception in 1965. The Thunderbirds, who have played in six national finals and won in 1982, 1986, 1997 and 2015, will meet the Université de Montréal Carabins, who were the runners-up in 2015 and 2019.

Besides Flannery-Fleck, six other Ottawa players will be in the Thunderbirds’ lineup – Canada West first-team all-star running back Isaiah Knight, defensive backs Stephane Tshishimbi and Ronan Horrall, defensive lineman Clark Leonard, receiver Mark Webb and quarterback Alex La Vecchia. The Carabins’ roster has four players from Gatineau – defensive linemen Gabriel Maisonneuve and Theo McElligott and receivers Brandon Gourgon and Simon Riopel.

Almost a decade ago, North American-style football was not on Flannery-Fleck’s athletic radar. He was immersed in that other football game, soccer.

But when he was in Grade 11, a good friend suggested he attend the football tryouts at Calgary’s Western Canada High School. He took that advice and wanted to play receiver, so he could go up against his friend, a defensive safety, at every practice.

Flannery-Fleck loved football, but as it turned out he “wasn’t much of a receiver,” he admitted.

Enter his parents, who had some advice. They suggested he switch positions for his Grade 12 year. Since he had such an extensive background in soccer, they wondered if he would be better suited to handle the team’s kicking duties.

“My parents said ‘why not kick?’ I said, ‘is that even a position?’” Flannery-Fleck recalled.

Upon moving to Ottawa the next year, he worked on his kicking skills with the Bel-Air Norsemen midget team in the National Capital Amateur Football Association league and the Glebe Collegiate Institute Gryphons.

In one year, his kicking ability was noticed by university coaches across the country. He narrowed his university choices to three schools before selecting Queen’s University.

But after practising and not playing games for two years with the Gaels, he decided “to look for something different.”

Enter another friend, who suggested he transfer to Carleton University and play for the Ravens.

Flannery-Fleck was a Carleton student for three years, but his football experience was scattered. He played five games in 2019, made five of 10 field-goal attempts and all 11 points after touchdown.

The 2020 OUA football season was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic and he missed the 2021 season because of injury.

Enter University of British Columbia offensive co-ordinator Taylor Nill, who enticed him to try the mild West Coast weather.

Immediately after the university football season, he spoke for 45 minutes on the phone with Nill and decided to escape Ottawa’s winter for the shorts-and-T-shirt weather of Vancouver.

“They had four other kickers, but I said to my parents this is my last chance. In my heart of hearts, I know I can do it. I need the coach to believe in me,” Flannery-Fleck explained.

In his second year at UBC, Flannery-Fleck exceeded his personal kicking goals for the 2023 regular season and was one of the top all-around U Sports kickers.

Flannery-Fleck came close to a perfect regular season in placement kicking, ranking No. 4 by hitting 18 of 20 attempts (1 blocked) and converting all 30 converts. He also kicked a single and led the Thunderbirds in scoring with 85 points, which ranked him fifth nationally.

He wanted to average more than 40 yards in punting and came in at 40.6 yards a punt (nationally ranked 13th), after his 47 punts travelled 1,909 yards. He aimed for a good average on his kick-offs and he recorded 58.7 yards from 55 attempts and 3,229 yards.

After kicking six field goals without a miss in the season-opening 25-10 win over the University of Regina Rams, Flannery-Fleck was named the Canada West and U Sports special-teams player of the week.

He earned a second Canada West player of the week honour, when he kicked the game-winning convert to give the Thunderbirds a 28-27 victory over the University of Alberta Pandas to win the Canada West championship and the 86th Hardy Cup.

The Canada West triumph sent the Thunderbirds to the Mitchell Bowl national semifinal, where they ran past St. Francis Xavier University X-Men 47-17 and into the Vanier Cup final. Flannery-Fleck accounted for 14 points off three field goals and five converts.

In the Hardy Cup, Flannery-Fleck converted all four touchdowns, but his final point after touchdown came with no time on the clock to end a dramatic UBC comeback.

The Thunderbirds held a 14-0 lead after the first quarter, but Alberta surged ahead 24-14 early in the fourth quarter. It appeared the Pandas would put the game away in the last minute of the game, but a fumble gave Thunderbirds the ball on their own 15-yard line with 52 seconds remaining.

Quarterback Garrett Rooker capped an eight-play drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Sam Davenport to tie the game 27-27 with no time on the clock. Flannery-Fleck ran onto the field, knowing another good convert would bring a Canada West title, but a miss meant overtime.

As soon as the Thunderbirds scored the touchdown, the entire team took to the field, but they were penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct (excessive celebration). The ball was placed on the 20-yard line and the convert would be kicked from the 27-yard line.

But a clean snap by Brad Hladik and hold by backup quarterback Derek Engel allowed Flannery-Fleck to kick the game-winning convert of his life.

Flannery-Fleck was cool under pressure.

“I swung through and trusted myself, like I did all year,” said Flannery-Fleck, knowing he also had the offensive line protection of tackles and NFL prospects Theo Benedet and Giovanni Manu, who were named first-team All Canadians on Thursday. Benedet also became the first two-time winner of the J.P. Metras Award as the top U Sports lineman.

When the official signalled a good convert, the Thunderbirds erupted for a second celebration. Flannery-Fleck was hesitant for a second or two, thinking there had to be an ensuing kickoff. But the game was officially over with his convert.

“There was disbelief we won. I was in shock,” he added.

As for the Vanier Cup, the final game of the season, Flannery-Fleck said the team which attracted 13 NFL teams to its practices may be considered underdogs, but that’s not the team’s thinking.

“As much as we respect Montreal, we’re silently confident in ourselves. We’ve prepared liked crazy. We feel good. It will be a battle,” he predicted.