The Raleigh Coastal Cup tournament was held October 21-22 at the awesome Wayne Gretzky Roller Hockey Center in Morrisville, NC. The Gretzky Center featured a full size roller hockey rink, 2 indoor soccer fields, a pro shop, restaurant and tons of open space. Thirty two teams from across the Southeast entered the qualifying tournament. Champions were crowned in five divisions. For complete tournament details, scores, standings and statistics, visit www.coastalcup.com

The Greensboro Comets Squirts (10-under) picked up where they left off last year. After dominating Coastal Cup in 1999-00, a season in which they won the Coastal Cup Championship and finished third in the USA Hockey Inline National Championships, the Comets appear to be the team to beat this year as well. The Comets beat the Roswell Rage in the championship, avenging a loss to the Rage during round robin play.

In a sort of rematch of the Squirt division, the Greensboro Comets Pee Wees (12-under) played the Roswell Rage for the Pee Wee championship. The Rage Pee Wees showed that they are an incredibly improved team from last year and should be a real force in the division this year. The Comets came out on top 6-2 in a game that was closer than the score indicates.

Skater?s Xtreme (Snellville, GA) won the Bantam division by beating the Greensboro Comets 5-4 in overtime. For those that have been watching the Xtreme for the last couple years, this comes as no surprise. They have improved with every tournament they have played in and it finally all came together in Raleigh. More details.

Team Gretzky (Morrisville, NC) cruised through the Midget division on its way to the championship. Gretzky beat the Dream Team (Apex, NC) 3-1 in a tough, hard fought championship game. Defense was so tight that only 23 total shots were taken by both teams for the entire game. Earlier round robin play indicated that the Midget division appears to be extremely even and competitive this year.

The Wilmington Crushers won the adult division with a victory over the Charlotte Vipers. The Vipers took an early 1-0 lead, but could never quite keep up with extremely talented Crushers.

For complete tournament details, scores, standings and statistics, visit www.coastalcup.com