EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. ? Skating on the ponds of British Columbia in western Canada, Scott Niedermayer always thought he had an advantage playing against his younger brother, Rob.

Bigger tends to feel better when you’re a youngster playing hockey.

“He was always a lot smaller than me until we got to 14 or 15. Then he got bigger than me, and we stopped fighting,” a smiling Scott Niedermayer said Sunday, knowing that his relationship with brother will change in the next two weeks.

The Niedermayers will become the first brothers to play against each other in the Stanley Cup finals since 1946 when the New Jersey Devils face the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in a best-of-seven series that begins Tuesday night.

The last brothers to play each other for the Cup were Boston’s Terry Reardon and Montreal’s Kenny Reardon.

“We were talking about that on the flight home,” Devils coach Pat Burns said. “It’s going to be fun.”

An All-Star defenseman with the Devils, Scott has won two Cups and was a member of Canada’s gold-medal winning Olympic team.

Rob, a center for the Mighty Ducks, is finally starting to play his best hockey after stops at Florida and Calgary.

“I just wouldn’t like to be the parents,” Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur said.

Scott and Rob have met at least once or twice a year since joining the league in the 1990s.

They even went head-to-head in the playoffs in 2000, when the Devils swept Rob and the Florida Panthers.