This week marks the 11th annual Maine High School Hockey Invitational Tournament, which since its inception in 2000, has grown steadily each year from a six team event to a 40-team event, making it the largest public High School tournament in the U.S.

Though he envisions significant expansion next year as well with the potential for as many as 62 teams playing at five rinks, it is not so much about quantity as maintaining the quality of the tournament and the competition for Chairman of the tournament Gary Prolman.

“(After this year’s tournament), we’re going to have to re-evaluate things,” said Prolman. “I want to keep the tournament competitive. I don’t want to just keep getting more and more teams. That’s not the object for us, it’s to get quality and be competitive, get the scouts here and stuff like that.”

He is afraid that the quality of High School hockey in Maine may be on the decline with MPA regulations on the number of games played, prompting more players who are serious about furthering their hockey career to look to prep schools and junior teams where they can get more game experience.

“We advise a lot of kids professionally as collegiate advisors, and I’m not going to tell a kid to stay in a Maine Public High School when he can only play 18 regular season games and only 5 extra games, that’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard.”

One of the goals of the tournament is to match up opponents as evenly as possible to provide quality competition. While there may be some big-margin wins by the out of state teams, there are also still some very close games.

On Wednesday, Greely High School played in two games and both of them required a shootout to determine the winner.

Greely coach Barry Mothes agrees that the MPA game restrictions are a factor, and the numbers of student athletes deciding to move on from High School hockey does seem to be growing.

“Fortunately, we’ve had a pretty good nucleus of guys stay with our team. We have lost a couple (players). There are a couple guys from our school that are playing juniors right now. We’re really happy with the guys who decided to stay at Greely and play for Greely.”

The restrictions, he points out, are among many factors impacting these decisions, and he feels that some kids might be feeling too much unnecessary pressure to leave their high school teams. High school hockey in Maine, he feels, is still capable of producing top-notch athletes.

“One of our better players probably ever in the history of Greely Hockey (Kevin Hart) played four years of public high school hockey at Greely with all his friends, and now he’s playing Division I hockey at Providence College.”

Will Maine’s high school teams continue to be able to compete with the out of state teams? Will there still be a place for Maine High Schools in the Maine High School Hockey Invitational Tournament, or will this become a prep school and junior hockey showcase?

That’s what Prolman has to figure out over the next 12 months.

One thing that can be said for certain is that Prolman’s effort and the efforts of everyone involved with the tournament have had a positive impact on countless student athletes and the community. After this year, the tournament will have donated over $120,000 to student athlete scholarships and charitable organizations in Maine.

Tim Horton’s joined as a sponsor this year, donating $10,000 to the event.

“Tim Horton’s has been unbelievable to us this year,” said Prolman. “From my perspective, without people like Tim Horton’s coming on board, we can’t give out scholarships. We need corporate sponsorship.”

Other notable sponsors include Wyndham Portland Airport Hotel, Texas Roadhouse, Woodin & Co., Pape Chevrolet, Bingas Stadium Smoke House and Sports Bar, OA Centers for Orthopaedics and the Law Offices of Joe Bornstein.

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Hosting the largest High School Hockey Holiday tournament in the country, it would seem that the ice rinks involved would benefit from an increase in activity. Though it will be a busy week at the rinks, it won’t be that much different than any other week.

“The operating costs of an arena like ours are so steep that our constant goal is to keep people on the ice for as many hours as possible each day,” said D.J. Whitten, manager of the Portland Ice Arena.

Generally, the ice is rented by adult leagues, youth leagues, and middle school teams, who have this week off to accommodate for the tournament.

“We are not any busier in terms of hours rented, but it is a different feel given that it draws the spectators and the media buzz. This is an excellent addition to our already busy schedule.”

PIA will host 18 of this week’s scheduled tournament games, while 28 will be played at Biddeford Ice Arena, and 14 at the MHG Arena in Saco.

The high volume of foot traffic through the rink does provide a boost in concessions and services such as skate sharpening, but the biggest gain for the rink is not necessarily monetary.

“The biggest value in this event is the feeling of pride that it creates just from being part of such a first class operation. We like hearing the kids from all over the country comment on our ice quality and so on, and we really do enjoy offering the kids, both local and from away, a fun, clean and safe environment for them to play their games.”

Local business such as hotels, restaurants and shops are likely to feel more of an impact from the visiting teams. While it has been an unseasonably warm winter so far, it’s not exactly tourist season; the extra visitors to the area that the tournament brings will surely give a welcome boost to the local economy.

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Some schools not participating in the Maine High School Invitational Tournament are hosting holiday tournaments of their own this week.

Gorham High School hosted an exhibition event earlier in the week at USM, with games taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Varsity teams participating in this tournament were Gorham, Edward Little, Bonny Eagle, Massabesic/OOB, and Fryeburg/Lake Region, along with three JV teams: Gorham, Windham/Sacopee Valley, and Thornton Academy.

“The past four seasons we have participated in the big Invitational tournament but this season we decided to go back to a smaller tournament that we could host and potentially make a little money for the program,” said Gorham coach Jon Portwine.

Camden High School has also put together a tournament, hosting games on Thursday and Friday in the first annual Camden Hills Hockey Invitational.

The California Wave, a Midget A Team from Artesia, CA has made the trip to Maine to compete in this tournament. The Maine teams competing in the event include Camden Hills, Cony, Bonny Eagle, MHW Hawks, Maranacook, Hall-Dale and Winthrop junior varsity team and the Midcoast Ice Cats cooperative club team.

Camden Hills’ coach Karl Enroth hopes to make this event an annual tradition.