Brothers May Clash for Cup

The Niedermayer brothers may be shutting off their cell phones in a couple weeks. While the two talk often right now, their career paths may cross in the Stanley Cup final.

Rob Niedermayer, a big winger, has been a huge pickup for the Mighty Ducks, helping them reach the Western Conference finals for the first time in franchise history. Scott Niedermayer has been through this before with New Jersey, having won two Stanley Cup championships. He’s working on a third with the Devils playing the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference finals.

“We talk every four or five days,” said Rob, who was acquired from the Calgary Flames in a deadline deal. “He’s my older brother and has lots of good advice for me.”

Scott, drafted third overall in 1991, has spent 11 seasons with the Devils as a solid defenseman with a huge upside on offense. He won Stanley Cups with New Jersey in 1995 and 2000. He even took the cup to the top of British Columbia’s Fischer Peak, 9,300 feet above sea level.

Rob’s been close enough to touch the cup, when his brother brought it home, and even got close to touching it, when he went to the final with Florida in 1996. But he hasn’t climbed that mountain yet.

“Scott had the cup home a couple times, but I wouldn’t touch it,” Rob said. “It’s a superstition. You don’t touch the cup until you win it. I’ll wait.”

Maybe not long.

Rob was a key pickup for the Ducks. His size, 6 feet 2, 204 pounds, and speed have come in handy through the first two rounds. He has two goals and five points in the playoffs, as the Ducks are one step away from playing for the cup ... which could cause some mixed feelings in the Niedermayer house.

“If Scott and I both got there, that would be special,” Rob said. “But that is still a long way off. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

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There was little the Ducks could do but wait the last three days.

They went through Thursday’s practice still not knowing who their opponent would be in the Western Conference finals with Game 1 a little more than 48 hours off. That was finally decided late Thursday night, when Minnesota beat Vancouver, 4-2, in Game 1.

“It has been a little odd,’ goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere said after practice. “We’ll know [today] and have a day to get ready. In the end, though, it’s about our game. We have to get ready for the next time, but this is going to be about what we do on the ice.”

Coach Mike Babcock and his staff spent the last two days making preliminary preparations for two teams, although there was little stress involved.

“The good thing is, anybody who is still around at this point is an elite team,” Babcock said. “You prepare for that.”

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The Ducks do not have a player among the top 27 individual scorers in the playoffs. Instead, they have generated enough offense throughout the lineup.

The Ducks have 11 players who have between four and six points in the playoffs, led by Paul Kariya, Steve Thomas and Mike Leclerc, all of whom have six points. They have four players with three goals, Kariya, Steve Rucchin, Jason Krog and Stanislav Chistov, and four more with two, Thomas, Leclerc, Niedermayer and Adam Oates.

“As tough as it is to score goals in the regular season, it is even tougher in the playoffs,” Kariya said. “You need everyone contributing.”

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The Ducks, who seemed to be having a “maroon seat cover convention” at most home games this season, as Babcock has said on a couple of occasions, certainly have the bandwagon rolling now. They sold out the Western Conference finals at the Arrowhead Pond in three hours Thursday.