• IIHF president says seating at arenas may be reduced

• NHL concerned about ice quality and dimensions

The head of the International Ice Hockey Federation said parts of the main hockey rink for the Milan Cortina Olympics might not be fully finished on time, but the playing surface, practice facilities and dressing rooms will be ready when the puck drops for the men’s event on 11 February.

“We can be confident on that,” IIHF President Luc Tardif told reporters Monday at the world junior championship. “You’re not going to go to Milano for nothing.”

• Steve Phelps stepped down after 20 years at the circuit

• Antitrust trial was settled late last year

The fallout from Nascar’s federal antitrust trial continued into the new year as Nascar Commissioner Steve Phelps on Tuesday announced his resignation after more than 20 years with the top racing series in the United States.

His resignation comes after last month’s trial in which inflammatory texts Phelps sent during contentious revenue-sharing negotiations were revealed. Phelps will leave the company at the end of the month, ahead of the start of the first exhibition race of the season on 1 February.

Daughter of the Wisconsin author confirmed her father died on 29 December and did not provide cause of death

Michael Schumacher, a Wisconsin author who produced a diverse array of works ranging from biographies of film-maker Francis Ford Coppola and musician Eric Clapton to accounts of Great Lakes shipwrecks, has died. He was 75.

Schumacher’s daughter, Emily Joy Schumacher, confirmed Monday that her father died on 29 December. She did not provide the cause of death.