By Duncan MackayJanuary 13 - Canadian Alpine skier Alexandra Starker has won the International Paralympic Committee's (IPC) Athlete of the Month award for December, it has been announced. 

per cent of the vote on the IPC's Facebook poll, beating fellow Canadian Greg Westlake, an ice sledge hockey

athletics while cross country skier Scott Dixon is the son of six-time Olympic biathlete Mike Dixon.Two ice-hockey

  But I hope there will be some sports which surprise us like women's football and hockey and sports

By Tom DegunJanuary 9 - Peter Mennel, secretary general of the Austrian Olympic Committee (ÖOC), has claimed that topping the medal table at the Innsbruck 2012 Winter Youth Olympics is not the most important thing for the young Team Austria that will compete in the inaugural competition in front of their home crowd.

That way I will already have your autograph when you win a medal," she joked.Austria's men's ice hockey

By Duncan MackayJanuary 9 - London 2012 has begun making preparations for the Olympics and Paralympics after officially taking control of the Olympic Park, including releasing details of new Games-time naming for selected venues and spectator areas.

venues renamed after the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) handed over control off the Park are the Hockey

By Duncan MackayJanuary 8 - Switzerland has appointed leading official Gian Gilli to carry out a feasibility study into a proposed joint bid from Davos and St Moritz to host the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, it has been announced.

was the chief organiser of the 2003 World Skiing Championships in St Moritz and the 2009 World Ice Hockey

By Duncan MackayJanuary 6 - The sports director of the 2014 Sochi Olympics and Paralympics, Werner Augsburger (pictured), has resigned after only four months in the role and returned to Switzerland because he claimed that the language barrier was too big an obstacle to overcome.

a new job.Before joining Sochi 2014, Augsburger had been the chief executive of the Swiss Ice Hockey

story at [email protected] storiesApril 2011: Sochi 2014 recruit head of Swiss hockey

Olympic Committee (USOC), has been appointed as the first Commisioner of the National Collegiate Hockey

I am honoured to have been selected by the National Collegiate Hockey Conference to become its first

once-in-a-career opportunity and I look forward to leading a conference, including the eight outstanding hockey

The eight member institutions of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference are Colorado College, University

begin building a staff and working on several key organizational functions and projects, including hockey

leadership, vision and credibility to make our new conference the benchmark for excellence in collegiate hockey

By Tom DegunJanuary 3 – Sliding sports could added to the Paralympic sport programme by the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games, if a proposal by Bob Balk, the chairman of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletes' Council, is accepted.

There are just four sports on the sports programme at the Winter Paralympic Games with sledge hockey

;     The sports that invest the most in EIS' services are athletics, canoeing, hockey

By Tom DegunJanuary 3 - The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced its shortlist for December's Athlete of the Month award with Australian wheelchair racing star Kurt Fearnley (pictured) named on the shortlist.

Canadians Greg Westlake and Alexandra Starker (pictured).Westlake recorded a hat-trick in the World Sledge Hockey

By Mike RowbottomJanuary 3 - Barry Maister, a 1976 Olympic hockey gold medallist and member of the International

were joined in their position by three other sports before the Games – shooting, equestrianism and hockey

The boycott hit particularly hard on the hockey players, many of whom had been deeply disappointed four

By David GoldJanuary 1 - Competitors from every continent are set to travel to Innsbruck for the first ever Winter Youth Olympic Games in the coming days.

team relay, ski halfpipe, snowboard slopestyle, biathlon mixed relay, figure skating mixed team, ice hockey

legacyDecember 2011: More free tickets released for Innsbruck 2012 Youth OlympicsDecember 2011: Canadian ice hockey

MackayDecember 29 - Four-time Olympic medallist Angela Ruggiero has announced her retirement from ice hockey

University graduate was just 18 when she won Olympic gold with the US team in 1998 when women's ice hockey

"USA Hockey will always be a part of me and I will cherish the experiences and memories with this team

 René Fasel, President of the International Ice Hockey Federation.led the tributes."

Angela Ruggiero has defined this era of women's hockey," he said.Contact the writer of this story at

By David GoldDecember 29 - Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) President Alexander Zhukov has voiced his support for Dagestan's bid to host the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games.

2018, the World Athletics Championships in 2013 and the World Aquatics Championships and World Ice Hockey