In the four years since its inception, the Maine High School Hockey Invitational has grown from 14 teams to 36. The tournament, held during school vacation week, attracted participants from all six New England states and two Canadian provinces. Next year, according to organizers, there could be as many as 52 teams from 15 states and three provinces.

In November, Portland’s Play It Again Sports took over an area formerly occupied by Maine Mountainworks, adding more than 3,000-square feet of retail space. Ultimately, every single foot was devoted to a new hockey superstore, which was helped paid for by Bauer/Nike, a hockey equipment manufacturer.

Are these signs that hockey is still growing as a high school sport in Maine? Maybe, but according to area coaches, there isn’t much more room for growth.

“It grew heavily in the mid- to late ’90s and early in the 2000s, and then it kind of plateaued with the kids and the number of teams,” said Thornton Academy coach Greg Cloutier. “You can only open so many teams, and it really depends on how much ice you have.”

“It’s there at 10:30 at night, but we’ve got to be realistic. We’re not going to be skating at 11 o’clock to midnight,” Jason Tremblay, Cape Elizabeth’s coach, said. “Kids are in school, kids are doing things. It’s even hard to do the five o’clock practices in the morning. There’s no ice available, trust me.”

Added Gorham coach Eric Wales: “It’s always an issue and it probably will be unless somewhere down the line the South Portland/Cape Elizabeth area might open up a rink.”

The Maine High School Hockey Invitational can add more teams, and Play It Again can add more space, but the growth of the sport itself is in danger of being stunted unless the area adds more rinks.

As it is now, the Portland Ice Arena is shared by Deering, Portland, Cheverus, Cape Elizabeth and South Portland high schools for games; Cape and South Portland practice at Cumberland County Civic Center. Of those schools, only South Portland does not have a girls team fighting for ice time. And there’s also the Casco Bay Youth Hockey and Portland middle school programs, which play at the PIA as well.

At the Biddeford Ice Arena, there are even more teams battling for a clean sheet. The rink is home to Thornton, Biddeford, Marshwood, Sanford, Massabesic, Kennebunk and York, as well as Biddeford Youth Hockey and the Portland Junior Pirates organization.

“(This) week I had practice on Monday, but there was no school so I had it 9 to 11,” said Cloutier. “Then I (had) no practice on Tuesday because I couldn’t get ice and then I go to St. Dom’s, then I (didn’t) have practice on Thursday because I (couldn’t) get ice.”

Wales, who grew up playing hockey in Westbrook during the 70s and remembers a time when there were just five teams in the state, has it easier at the University of Southern Maine rink, but only because of proximity.

“We’re the closest school, so most of my practices are afternoons,” he said. “It’s not that we have it easy. The other schools could have those practices, but they just can’t get there quick enough.”

Those other schools include Scarborough, Westbrook and Bonny Eagle. And of course, USM’s teams have first dibs over everyone.

According to Jeff Ketchem, the manager at the Portland Ice Arena, the problem with adding more rinks – in addition to the fact that they cost money to build – is that the demand for ice time wanes when the high school season comes to an end.

“You do need more ice in the winter, during those three or four months, but what do you do for those other eight or ninth months?” said Ketchem. “You can only have so many camps in the summer to try to make your money.”

So the schools will continue to make do – even as more girls programs spring up – because they have no other choice.

But what about the individual standouts who have Division I potential and for whom one or two practices a week isn’t enough? They do what Scarborough’s Ben Tsujiura and TA’s Andrew Letellier have done.

Tsujiura, an all-state selection last season, is now playing at Phillips Exeter Academy, where there are two rinks right on campus. Letellier is still going to school at TA, but he’s playing a 50-plus game schedule for the Junior Pirates.

“I think it’s a frustrating process,” said Portland High assistant coach Matt Libby, a TA grad who played junior hockey before he played at Providence College. “I know my high school coach was a bit disappointed (when I left) just because you don’t want to see some of your more talented players leave your team.

“If you’re a coach you don’t want to lose your best players, but at the same time you’re hoping for the best thing for them individually.”

Wales has such a player on the Gorham team this year. His name is David Gushee; he’s a freshman and he had 21 points through five games this season.

“If he’s comfortable playing in front of his community, his friends, his parents and all those kinds of things, he’s going to stay right here,” said Wales. “But if he’s looking for, obviously, something different then there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it.”

Going to prep school is not free, though, and neither is playing junior hockey. In fact, there isn’t much about hockey that is free, so the playing field isn’t as even as it is with sports like football, soccer, baseball and basketball.

Ice time costs more than $150 an hour. At Play It Again Sports skates range in cost from about $100 to $500, while sticks can cost between $20 and $200.

And those are only the two most basic pieces of equipment. There’s also knee pads ($25 to $90), pants ($35 to $110), helmets ($60 to $105), gloves ($30 to $150), shoulder pads ($30 to $110) and elbow pads ($20 to $60).

“I think that’s always been a tough thing for hockey,” said Libby. “It’s been such a hard sport to play because you need ice and you need all the equipment. It’s not like you just throw the football around or the basketball or the baseball.”

So even if the rink issue is solved and the area’s schools are able to hold onto their better players, there is still that one final obstacle stopping some players from joining up and others from continuing.

“We grew a few years ago heavily when you saw the USM rink open up,” said Cloutier. “That helped a lot and now I think with the economy – hockey’s a more expensive sport than other sports – that it’s starting to slow down.”

“I think it’s realistically going to stay strong,” said Wales, “but I don’t think it’s going to get a lot bigger than it is now.”