The Maine Principals’ Association rule limiting the number of non-countable dates a team can have in a season has certainly reduced the number of holiday tournaments involving central Maine teams.

But the biggest basketball tournament in central Maine is still going strong.

The Capital City Hoop Classic will be played Tuesday and Wednesday at the Augusta Civic Center. All girls games are Tuesday, and all boys games are Wednesday, so each team in the tournament will need to use only one of its non-countable dates.

Teams will play up to three games in one day. On the girls side, the teams are Boothbay, Camden Hills, Cony, Gardiner, Mountain Valley and Oxford Hills. The boys teams are Bangor, Brunswick, Cony, Dirigo, Gardiner and Lawrence. The championship games are scheduled for 8:15 each night.

Many of the most attractive matchups are Wednesday. The Dirigo boys are undefeated in Class C, and take on Class A power Bangor at 10:45 a.m. Gardiner, a solid team in Class B, gets a shot at a couple of good Class A teams in Bangor and Brunswick. Lawrence will also face Brunswick after beating the Dragons 59-53 earlier this month.

But the girls matchups have something missing from the boys slate: A Cony-Gardiner game. That will be at 4:15 p.m., Tuesday. Both teams are undefeated this season.

“They’re really excited,” Gardiner coach Mike Gray said of his players. “This is a group who’ve been playing a lot of varsity basketball, and they haven’t played them. Even though we’re different divisions, it’s Cony-Gardiner. It’s fun where we both have pretty good teams this year. And to play Cony, the girls are always going to be up for that.”

Another boys and girls basketball tournament is today’s Medomak Valley Holiday Classic. It includes 16 teams, with games alternating boys and girls from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The day opens with the Boothbay girls facing Waterville, followed by the Boothbay boys taking on Mt. View. After that, it’s three boys-girls doubleheaders: Erskine-Oceanside, Lincoln-Wiscasset, and Messalonskee-Medomak Valley.

The Waterville boys hockey team will host a tournament today and Tuesday, but today’s game is a countable one for the Purple Panthers. Waterville, looking for its first win of the season, faces Brunswick at 11 a.m., followed by Winslow taking on Spaulding (Vt.) at 1. On Tuesday, the consolation game is at 11 and the championship is at 1. All games will be at Alfond Rink at Colby College.

While many people travel for the holidays, Waterville coach Dennis Martin said he doesn’t see a problem having everyone in town for today’s game.

“They know we have that every year,” Martin said. “We’ll all be there.”

While it’s not a holiday tournament, the Zagreb Mustangs — as in Zagreb, Croatia — will be playing four games in Maine this week as part of the first-ever Boston Winter Basketball Camp.

The camp is run by Michael Soucie, a Mt. Blue and University of Maine at Farmington graduate who runs camps in the United States for players from Croatia. Zagreb plays Edward Little (2 p.m., Tuesday, Auburn Middle School), Mt. Blue, (2 p.m., Wednesday, Mt. Blue Middle School), Madison (7:30 p.m., Friday), and Waterville (1:30 p.m., Saturday).

Soucie said the Mustangs are still looking for games on the morning of Jan. 2 and the evening of Jan. 4. Coaches interested can contact him at 645-3534 or michael.soucie25@gmail.com.

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243

mdifilippo@centralmaine.com