Draper brought Stanley Cup home to Scarborough last season

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Scarborough brothers Anthony and Chris Stewart are kicking off the hockey season, as usual, with their respective National Hockey League clubs, Florida and Colorado.

Anthony has been impressive in the pre-season with two goals and at least one assist (full scoring summaries are not available for all games).

Chris has notched one assist. He was in the starting six to open the pre-season for Colorado last Wednesday (a 4-3 shootout loss to visiting Los Angeles Kings), on a line with Joe Sakic and Darcy Tucker. Not a bad way to start the year.

Chris, who will turn 21 at the end of October, is coming off his first full season in the AHL with the Lake Erie Monsters. And a good debut it was, recovering from a slow start to lead the team in goals with 25, complemented by 19 assists for 44 points in 77 games.

Anthony, 23, on the other hand, is trying to stick with the big club after spending the last three seasons commuting between the Florida Panthers and its farm club, the Rochester Americans of the AHL.

Anthony, last year, saw action in 26 NHL games managing one assist. With Rochester, he earned 31 points (13 goals, 18 assists) in 54 games.

Anthony has now appeared in a total of 46 NHL games over three years, with two goals and three assists to his credit.

Both brothers are former first round draft picks (by their current NHL clubs), Anthony 25th overall in 2003 and Chris 18th overall in 2006. Both were also Ontario Hockey League stars for the Kingston Frontenacs where they did play one year together.

Anthony's best year was in 2002-03 with 70 points (32 goals, 38 assists) in 68 games. Chris' best year was in 2005-06 when he had 87 points (37 goals, 50 assists) in 62 games.

Anthony's last minor hockey league team was North York in the GTHL in 2000-01, scoring 100 points (30g, 70a) in 34 games. Chris' last minor hockey league team was Toronto Junior Canadiens in 2003-4 where he registered 77 points (32g, 45a) in 54 games.

Both went to Scarborough high schools, Anthony to Birchmount Park Collegiate and Chris to West Hill Collegiate (where he gave up hockey for one full season to concentrate on football).

If they hope to play their first NHL game against each other - they've already faced each other in the AHL - they'll have to be with their respective NHL clubs on Dec. 21.

The Stewart brothers are among a number of Scarborough natives suiting up in the NHL, led, of course, by Kris Draper who was able to actually bring the Stanley Cup back home to Scarborough to his dad's house this past summer.

It marked the fourth Stanley Cup for Draper in five appearances - all with the Detroit Red Wings.

A Frank J. Selke Trophy winner in 2004 (the annual award is given to the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game), the 37-year-old, who has suited up for Detroit since the 1993-94 season, also played on four World Championship teams, bringing home gold in 2003 and silver in 2005, as well as Canada's 2006 Olympic team and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey team.

He grew up in east Scarborough and after culminating his minor hockey career with the Don Mills Flyers embarked on an unusual junior hockey career, joining the Canadian national hockey team when he was just 17, although he did play for the Ottawa 67's for one year.

In 950 regular season games, Draper has 314 points (141 goals, 173 assists). In 194 playoff games, he has 44 points.