WPIAL football and basketball championships are played at high-profile venues such as Heinz Field and the Palumbo Center and often garner more attention in this area than the PIAA championships that follow.

The WPIAL might not be the only Western Pennsylvania high school athletic league to experience that.

The Pennsylvania Cup state high school hockey championships are tomorrow at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena in Johnstown, and three local teams will compete. Pine-Richland (Class AAA), Latrobe (Class AA) and Quaker Valley (Class A) will play the winners of the Eastern Pennsylvania Flyers Cup in their respective classifications.

Each won a PIHL Penguins Cup championship last week at Mellon Arena. The semifinals also were played at the 16,958-seat home of the Penguins. The War Memorial holds less than a quarter of that.

"I think in terms of Western Pennsylvania hockey today, the Penguins Cup is seen as the top team prize," Latrobe coach Ron Makoski said.

"But you can take it to the next level and play for a state championship. I think that is sort of the ultimate for high school ice hockey. The most prestigious award in ice hockey is a state championship."

Teams from this area have dominated the Pennsylvania Cup. Seven of the past eight Class AAA titles and 11 of the past 12 Class AA championships have gone to Western teams.

Flyers Cup champions have won four of the past five Class A Pennsylvania Cups, but the Penguins Cup winners had won the previous 10.

Pine-Richland (24-0) is playing for more than a state championship -- the Rams will be trying to cap an undefeated season when they play La Salle (29-1-2) at 3 p.m.

Pine-Richland coach Bob Kennedy has downplayed the notion of going undefeated all season. But, as he recently noted, that accomplishment now goes hand-in-hand with what the team is truly after.

"The goal is always the state championship," Kennedy said. "The Penguins Cup certainly is a nice step along the way, a big step along the way. It's nice for the kids to play at Mellon Arena in front of a big crowd with the Jumbotron.

"States comes after that. Historically, I think it seems like Philly treats it that way. The Flyers Cup is the big thing, and states don't mean as much. I think here in the West, states mean a lot."

The Rams won the state Class AA title the past two seasons and are 70-2-3 since 2005-06.

Latrobe (22-3), coming off consecutive overtime victories at Mellon Arena in the Penguins Cup semifinals and final, will play Conestoga (22-5-1) at 1 p.m.

"Anytime you face an overtime when the stakes are just so high and you come off it with a win, you feel like you're on top of the world," Makoski said. "We have to make sure we put that behind us and are mentally sharp."

Latrobe was the highest-scoring team in PIHL Class AA and features the classification's highest-scoring duo in JeffJoe Regula and Mike McCurdy. The Wildcats are playing in the state championship for the first time.

Quaker Valley coach Kevin Quinn is trying to make sure his team finishes its job in Johnstown.

The Quakers (23-2), looking for their second title in the past three seasons, will play West Chester East (19-7) at 11 a.m.

"I told them they had 10 seconds to enjoy it," Quinn said moments after winning the Penguins Cup. "And I had a long pause, waited for 10 seconds to elapse and I said, 'OK, now. We're not done.' "

Quaker Valley has won 17 games in a row and is 69-4-1 the past three seasons.