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The mother has heard what's been said about her jangled nerves; that she was so frayed after watching her two sons face one another in the Western Hockey League playoffs she had to go to a hospital.

Not true, Jackie Stone said. She simply saw a doctor and went on medication. That was a month ago and all has been calm since.

But Wednesday night, inside the full-house confines of Brandon's Westman Place, Jackie and her husband Rob will be in Section 16 watching their boys face each other yet again, only now it will be in a MasterCard Memorial Cup game with a bigger, more stressful rematch in two days time.

When the defending national champion Windsor Spitfires defeated the Moncton Wildcats Tuesday night, it assured that Wednesday night's game between the Calgary Hitmen and Brandon Wheat Kings would be a preview to Friday's semi-final rematch. And that would be Jackie's acid test for her stomach. Her emotions, too. She wants her oldest son Michael, a 19-year-old Calgary defenceman, to win since this could be his last year of junior. She wants her youngest son Mark, a 17-year-old Brandon forward, to win because he's lost to Calgary in the WHL playoffs the last two springs and because this is his NHL draft year.

"It seems every time we face each other the stakes are getting higher," Mark acknowledged. "One guy's got to lose so it's either you or him, and that means one guy is never happy."

"I'd like to see them hug when it's all over," added the mom, who knows that hug won't heal one son's ache. "This never gets easier."

Stone versus Stone began in earnest in the WHL's 2008-2009 regular season with Mark taking a less-than-friendly run at his big brother. Having just been drafted in the third round by the Phoenix Coyotes, Michael decided to show who was boss by returning the favour, only it backfired.

"I got him," Michael said of the hit he threw at his sibling foe. "But I took myself out of position and they scored. When I got to the bench, Dave Lowry (then the head coach of the Hitmen) told me to calm down, 'Forget about my brother. Play the game.'"

Will the Stones be calm now?

"Last year we won and it was tough on Mark," said Michael. "Then we won again this year. I know he's going to be trying to get even."

Mark Stone is a rangy 6-foot-3, 190-pound right winger who was in and out of the lineup during the season because of injuries. He managed 28 points in 39 games and had just four points in the playoffs.

Michael Stone is a 6-foot-4, 207-pound defender who has been a blast from the point. He had 20 points in 23 WHL playoff games and has learned how to adjust his game against his kid brother.

"He's come a long way," Mark said of Michael. "He's learned from some good players and made the most of his opportunities. He's become a lot grittier."

"I used to think it was Mark with the bad temper," the mother noted. "As things went on I could see Michael teased him."

Jackie Stone has a tradition. When she's in Calgary, she wears a Hitmen jersey with the family surname on the back. She has a matching Wheat Kings jersey with the same name, different number and wears it in Brandon. When the boys clash, she sports a t-shirt with both their pictures on it, but she won't for their Memorial Cup meeting.

"It's not just the guilt; it's who's watching you," she explained. "I remember (in last month's WHL series), Michael scored in Brandon and someone told me, 'You can cheer.' You don't want to because you could be on the bloody Jumbotron."

So far, the two Stone boys have yet to grab one another and engage in nastiness. Michael pulled Mark out of a scrum once but neither has dropped the gloves or given the other a facewash.

"When we were young, when somebody would win, the other guy wasn't happy," said Mark. "There'd be a stick to the leg or a punch in the arm."

Now it's an arrow in the heart and one in the mid-section.

"So far, so good for the stomach," said the mom.

The week, she knows, is only half done.

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