High school hockey's biggest games shift to the area's most recognizable hockey venue.

Mellon Arena will play host to the PIHL Penguins Cup semifinals tomorrow and Thursday. The Penguins' home will be the site for six games in two days which will determine who will play in the Penguins Cup title games Monday and next Tuesday, also at Mellon Arena.

"The kids are going to be excited, and they'll probably be a little nervous, too," Seneca Valley coach Denis Kirstein said.

"As coaches, we just have to make sure they've got to be focused. But the big thing is to make sure they have fun. If you have fun, all the other things will take care of themselves and it will be just another game once you get out there on the ice."

On Wednesday and Thursday, the Class A semifinal will start at 5 p.m., followed by the Class AA game at 7 p.m. and the Class AAA matchup at 9 p.m.

Class AAA

No. 1 seed Shaler (21-2) will play No. 9 Mt. Lebanon (12-7-5) Wednesday in what has the makings of a classic offense-vs.-defense matchup.

Shaler is tied for the highest-scoring team in Class AAA (4.9 goals per game), but Mt. Lebanon already has limited the team the Titans are tied with, Penn-Trafford, to only two goals in a first-round victory and then shut out the next-highest-scoring team, three-time returning champion Pine-Richland, in the quarterfinals. The Blue Devils have allowed only 45 goals in 24 games (1.9 per contest).

The Titans won the only meeting between the two this season, 7-6, in overtime Jan. 20. Since then, the two teams have combined for only one loss apiece.

No. 3 Upper St. Clair (15-4-4) will play No. 4 Seneca Valley (13-5-5) Thursday. The Panthers defeated the Raiders, 4-1, when the two teams met during the regular season -- but that Oct. 30.

Upper St. Clair has lost only twice since.

"That was so long ago, I don't even look at what happened five months ago," Upper St. Clair coach Larry Marks said. "But they're a strong team, a skating team with some guys who can bury the puck and a good young coaching staff."

Class AA

Latrobe (23-0) and Franklin Regional (14-8-2) will meet Wednesday in a rematch of the title game a year ago, won by the Wildcats. This season's game features the top two offenses in Class AA. Defending state champion Latrobe averages 8.4 goals per game; No. 8 Franklin Regional features the top two scorers in Class AA, Eugene Mack and Steve Shirk.

The goaltending matchup in the game Thursday between No. 6 seed Montour (16-7-1) and No. 5 Bishop Canevin (16-6-2) is interesting. Montour's Matt Skoff is one of the premier goalies in the area. After rotating between two players at the position all season, the Crusaders are going with freshman Julian DiFilippo.

Class A

No. 1 Mars (21-1) plays No. 4 Quaker Valley (15-6-1) Wednesday in another rematch of a 2008 title game. The Quakers, who are looking for their fourth Penguins Cup championship game appearance in a row, won that one. But the Planets swept three regular-season meetings by a combined score of 13-1.

No. 2 Serra (20-2) and No. 3 Bishop McCort (16-4-2) didn't play in the championship game last year, but they did meet for the title four times in six seasons from 2000-05.