Playing on the Same Side

In a way, the signature moment of the 2003 Stanley Cup finals came not during the grueling seven-game series but at the end.

The fever-pitch crowd at Continental Airlines Arena watched as the traditional handshake briefly yielded to a moment of joy intertwined with pain.

Two brothers came together on the ice and embraced. Only one had the Stanley Cup.

Star defenseman Scott Niedermayer of the winning New Jersey Devils tried his best to console Rob, 16 months younger and a forward with the upstart Mighty Ducks.

Their mother, Carol, remembers that night.

“In a humble way, you were very joyful of Scott’s success but also very joyful for Rob,” she said. “Every young boy in Canada dreams of being in that particular game.... You have to be proud of the journey you make with your teammates and coaches.

“At the end of it all, they’re still brothers. I know the dearest thing Scott would want to do is hand [the Cup] off to Rob.”

Scott Niedermayer saw the chance to do just that and seized it, signingwith the Ducks for four years and $27 million during last month’s free-agent shopping bonanza. At $6.75 million per season, the deal makes him one of the game’s highest-paid players, even in the new salary cap-defined NHL.

He is also one of its best.

In the season before the lockout, Niedermayer won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the league’s best defenseman after collecting 14 goals and 54 points for the Devils. Armed with superior skating and passing skills, the Canadian, who turned 32 on Aug. 31, is at his peak, often mentioned in the same breath as fellow Norris winners Chris Pronger of Edmonton and Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit.

“I know how good he is,” said Duck forward Petr Sykora, who played with Niedermayer for seven seasons while with the Devils. “I’m telling you, there is not a better defenseman in this league.”

In jumping to the Ducks, Niedermayer turned down more money and a chance to build his legacy with the Devils, the only professional organization he has known.

Once a fresh-faced, 18-year-old first-round draft pick, he had been seen as the Devils’ next captain, succeeding Scott Stevens. There were also New Jersey’s three championships to consider and a great tradition he helped build.

But the Ducks had one thing the Devils couldn’t match.

Blood.

“Your teammates, in a lot of ways, become more than friends,” Niedermayer said. “They become friends that you are willing to do certain things for. When you’re out on that ice, you’re relying on each other. There’s a lot of trust. In a way, you sort of become brothers.

“To actually be brothers and be on the same team, it magnifies all of that.”

So Duck General Manager Brian Burke played the best card he had.

He knew his New Jersey counterpart, Lou Lamoriello, was prepared to offer the maximum any player can make under the new collective bargaining agreement: $39 million over five years at $7.8 million per season. Burke also knew the brothers craved to play on the same team.

Having targeted Niedermayer in the star-studded free-agent class, Burke moved fast, negotiating a four-year, $8-million deal to keep Rob, a restricted free agent who had 12 goals and 16 assists in 2003-04.

Burke recalls a visit to Scott Niedermayer’s off-season home on the eastern edge of British Columbia, where the GM was given a list of what the defenseman and his wife, Lisa, thought were important.

“The last one said, ‘I’d like to play with my brother,’ ” Burke said. “I’m the only one that can check off everything on that list.”

As Niedermayer weighed numerous offers, he thought back to the times spent in the tight-knit hometown of Cranbrook, where he and Rob played for the same team in the local bantam league, and together on the pond with family and neighborhood friends, sticks in hand.

But the choice to leave the Devils wasn’t easy, even though Niedermayer and Lamoriello had sparred occasionally during contract negotiations.

“We’ve had him since he’s been 18 and we’ve shared a lot of high times,” Lamoriello told Associated Press. “The years that Scotty has been here, I think our record and his record speaks for itself. There’s no more quality of an individual on the ice, off the ice, family man, etc. We have tremendous respect for him.”

Niedermayer also would be cutting the roots that he had put down with his wife and their three young sons, Logan, Jackson and Josh.

“Having been in New Jersey for so long and having put so much into it, you know, I thought it wouldn’t be anything wrong with trying to play my whole career with one organization,” said Niedermayer, one of only 13 players to have won a world title, a Stanley Cup and an Olympic gold medal. “I look at guys who do that and I think that’s great. There’s a ton of value in that and a player should be proud of it.

“That’s why it was tough to make that decision to leave New Jersey. There was no reason to.”

Rob said he didn’t try to sell his brother on the Ducks. But his feelings were clear once Scott made up his mind.

“I was probably the happiest guy around,” Rob said. “I didn’t really want to try to influence him too much as long as he was happy with his decision. That was enough.”

*

With Sandis Ozolinsh in the fold, the Ducks now figure to have a playmaking defenseman on the ice for the majority of every game. Niedermayer, however, is expected to bring much more in his new role as a franchise player alongside Sergei Fedorov.

“I think Scott is one of the best players in the world,” said former Duck center Steve Rucchin, now with the New York Rangers. “I think he makes any team a Stanley Cup contender.”

Niedermayer now has his sights on helping Rob get hockey’s ultimate prize. Rob, who also played in the finals with Florida in 1996, has been next to Lord Stanley’s Cup, even taken pictures with it.

When the brothers met to shake hands after that hard-fought final, Niedermayer said all he could do was tell Rob how well he and the Ducks played.

“I was disappointed for him,” said Niedermayer. “To put that much time and sacrifice and commitment to get there ... to be that close and all of a sudden nothing, it’s a pretty devastating feeling.”

Yet now that they wear the same uniform, the happiest probably isn’t Scott or Rob.

It’s mom.

No more choosing sides.

But Carol Niedermayer also sees this only as a mother would.

“The boys played against one another and after all was said and done, they were brothers,” she said. Then she adds joyfully, “It’s going to be fantastic.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Mighty brothers

A look at the careers of Scott and Rob Niedermayer:

*--* Scott Niedermayer Rob Niedermayer

*--*

*--* 32 Age 30 6-1 Height 6-2 200 Weight 209 Defenseman Position Forward 892 Games 696 112 Goals 129 364 Assists 207 476 Points 336

*--*