Kaneski Getting Set for
Senior Year at St. Paul’s
By Scott Taylor, Photos courtesy of the Kaneski family
As the 2015 Football Manitoba U-18
team wrapped up its seventh-place
finish at the Football Canada Cup,
the best young football players in the
province are starting to get ready for
their 2015 fall seasons.
Derek Dufault and Zack Williams
are off to the U of M, Mason Bennett
and Brady Oliveira are headed to
UND, Peter Oliver is off to York
University and our old pals Nic
Demski and Anthony Coombs will
be suiting up this season for the
Saskatchewan Roughriders and
Toronto Argos respectively.
St. Paul’s Crusaders offensive
lineman Matt Kaneski, meanwhile,
has just written his SATs, the tests
required from every student to
get into an American university.
However, since he still has one year
left at St. Paul’s, some folks figured
his desire to write the tests would
be a tad premature, but not Kaneski.
This is, after all, a young man who
says, “I’ve been experiencing some
success in high school.”
He’s also experienced his share
of success on the football field.
This summer he suited up for
Team Manitoba at the U-18
Football Canada Cup at SaintJean-sur-Richelieu, Que., back in
July and it was a big part of his
preparation for the 2015 Winnipeg
High School Football League season.
This summer, Kaneski played
mostly left and right guard with
Team ‘Toba and was a captain for
the annual Black and Gold Game.
Kaneski (50) on Team Gold
26 / sportslife
It’s great preparation for a season
that will obviously determine where
he plays college football.
“I’m still not sure where I’m going
to school next year (2016),” said
the 6-foot-0, 260-pound Kaneski
candidly. “I’ve talked with Coach
(Brian) Dobie at the U of M and
I’ve had some interest from Simon
Fraser, UBC, U of T, UBC and
Jacksonville State, among others.
I haven’t made any decvisions and
probably won’t for awhile.
“But I wanted to write my SATs in
order to be prepared. It means I’ll be
done with them and I can just worry
about school at St. Paul’s and playing
the upcoming season and getting
prepared for university.”
Because he’s a straight A student,
no matter where Kaneski goes
to school he’ll raise the team’s
collective grade point average. He’ll
also be a pretty good football player,
too. After all, the game is, essentially,
part of his genetic makeup.
Kaneski started playing as an
eight-year-old with the St. Vital
Mustangs when his dad, Brent, a
former member of the Mustangs
himself, took Matt to St. Vital and
signed him up.
However, things didn’t go all that
smoothly at first.
“My dad wanted me to play for
St. Vital because that’s where he
played,” Matt said. “But I guess I was
living in the wrong area. The people
who organize football wanted me
to play for Greendell. But my dad
wanted me to play for the Mustangs
because he thought that was the best
place for me to play. So they asked
him to coach and I could play where
my dad coached and so, pretty much
since that day, my dad has been my
coach.