LEWISTON — One of the area’s first school-sponsored girls’ hockey teams, and the most successful in each of the past two seasons, is precariously close to folding up shop.

Lewiston High School, which won the first Maine Principals’ Association-sponsored girls’ hockey state championship in 2009, and followed that up with a runner-up finish in 2010, is toeing a fine line in the numbers game. In the last few months, rumors have flown about the possible demise of the program due to a lack of players, even as area rivals Leavitt and Edward Little merged to keep a program alive.

If it’s up to the school’s athletic director and the team’s head coach, the show will go on.

“We’re pushing forward with what we have, and the plan is to have a team next winter,” AD Jason Fuller said Wednesday. “We have no plans to fold the team whatsoever.”

“If we can weather this year, next year we have a big class coming in from the middle school,” coach Ron Dumont said. “I think we can sustain ourselves for this year, and once we do, I think we’ll be OK.”

Last year, the Devils were smaller than in the previous seasons after a couple of players graduated or transfered.

Another good-sized graduating class — five Lewiston players graduated this spring — along with an incoming class of, at first, zero, left the Blue Devils anticipating a team of just 12.

Then, more transfers.

Sophomore Katherine Anthoine told Dumont she expected to live in Falmouth next season, and will likely skate for the Yachtsmen.

“I had a feeling that was coming, just talking to her at the end of the year,” Dumont said.

Another sophomore, Taylor Teixeira, whose brother skated for the boys’ varsity team at St. Dom’s, told Dumont she was planning on attending Hebron Academy.

“She called me, even before she made the decision,” Dumont said. “She told me there was nothing wrong; she just decided to go that route, both for academics and for hockey, and I was fine with that.”

And junior Marisa Zamrock, one of the bigger pieces of the Devils’ puzzle as a freshman and a sophomore, has apparently gone the way of another rival. Fuller confirmed knowledge of the transfer waiver required by the MPA when students transfer from school to school, indicating that the move is based on academics, not on athletics.

“I have seen it, but it’s not in my hands anymore, and I don’t know where it’s at in the process,” Fuller said.

“I was surprised when I heard about it,” Dumont said. “When (Fuller) told me about it, I hadn’t heard about it from the player or from her parents. All I know about it is what my AD told me, and of course the kids talk about it and others talk about it.”

Zamrock is one of the top girls’ hockey players in Maine, and has led Lewiston in scoring in both of her seasons with the Blue Devils.

Those losses put Lewiston at just nine players — seven skaters and two goalies.

“I can’t find where there is a minimum, but I know at some point it’s a safety concern,” Dumont said. “I’ve looked around at some other states and what they have for minimums, and the consensus appears to be 10 total.”

Heavy in-house recruiting appears to have saved Lewiston — for now.

“We have five seniors, one junior, four sophomores and two incoming freshmen,” Dumont said, “but of those, three have never played the sport before. We have eleven committed for summer hockey, and one who’s told me she’s going to be here in the winter. That’s still not considering possible injuries or academic issues, but it’s better than nine.”

The future is promising, Dumont said. By his count, there are six eighth-graders and another handful of players in the seventh grade class.

“This is definitely a year of opportunity for the kids,” Dumont said. “If they want to play a varsity sport and see legitimate time as a varsity player as a novice player, this is a great chance for that, to gain that experience. That’s what we are selling at this point.”