Seventh man advantage favors baby Pens

The Chicago Wolves v Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Penguins final of the Calder Cup Championship starts tonight. Chicago fans haven’t seen the Penguins play since last season when the team made a West Division swing. That’s prehistory in hockey. So much changes, especially in minor league play.

Although the home advantage has been huge in the playoffs, and that goes to the Wolves, I think that the seventh man advantage is strongly in the Penguins favor. The Wachovia building that the Penguins play in is routinely sold out. The Penguins have one of the strongest fan bases seen in the American Hockey League. The white out seen in Mellon Arena when the Detroit Red Wings played game three? The same advantage is going to be on the Baby Pens favor too.

That favors a long series, with the Wolves taking the Chicago games and the Pens taking the Pennsylvania games. I don’t see Chicago having an easy time, even if they take a lead in the Pens home.

The Pens on the other hand, have come to Chicago and won. Okay, I said that is prehistory. But it’s happened. I’m predicting the Wolves have tough wins at home, but drop one home game, and lose each of the games in Pennsylvania. The series goes six or seven. The series ends in Chicago.

Now, that’s what I think is going to happen. Chicago plays a disciplined game, plays its game, not WBS’, and finally, is able to take the oxygen out of the Wachovia building with early goals in games three and four, that will change things. That is how the Wolves can win this thing. That’s what I want to happen.