United States Olympic Committee Honors Boxer Devonne Canady, Ice Hockey's Jenny Potter, Skier Bode Miller and USA Women's NationalHockey Team for December Accomplishments    COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -  The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) announced today the recipients of the December 2001 Athlete and Team of the Month awards.     On the men's side, skier Bode Miller garnered the Male Athlete of the Month award due to his incredible December performances. In less than 36 hours, Miller (Franconia, N.H.) had two World Cup wins. His first victory took place in Val D'isere Dec. 9 in the giant slalom. The last time an American man won a giant slalom World Cup was in 1983. The next day Miller was in Madonna De Campiglip, Italy where he won the slalom, an event that had not been won by a U.S. man in over 18 years.    Second place among the nominees for Male Athlete of the Month went to Greco-Roman wrestling's Rulon Gardner. Gardner (Cascade,Colo.) claimed a gold medal at the Greco-Roman World Wrestling Championships in Patras, Greece, Dec. 6-9. His performance helped lead the United  States to a third-place team finish, its best world performance ever. With the victory, Gardner becomes the first Greco-Roman wrestler to win two career World-level gold medals, the 2001 World title to go along with his 2000 Olympic title. He also becomes only the third U.S. Greco-Roman wrestler to win a World Championships gold medal.    Skeleton's Chris Soule finished in the third spot for Male Athlete of the Month honors. Coming off a tremendous month of November, Soule  (Trumbull, Conn.) continued to collect medals on the World Cup tour. Of the two World Cup races in December, Soule won bronze in both Calgary on Dec. 14 and Lake Placid on Dec. 20.  Soule currently ranks second in the world in men's skeleton and has led the U.S. men to their #1 rank in the world. Due to his world ranking, Soule qualified to compete for the U.S. at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in February.    Selected for Team of the Month honors was the USA Women's National Hockey Team.  Team USA continued its winning streak on the Visa Skate to Salt Lake Tour, adding a 9-0-0 record in the month of December to a current overall record of 26-0-0. The team outscored its opponents 87-5 and out-shot its opponents 575-85 in nine contests in December. At the Holiday Tournament in Lake Placid, N.Y., the team shut out the Russian Women's National Team, the reigning World bronze medalist, by a score of 11-0. Team members include: Sara DeCosta (Warwick,R.I.), Sarah Tueting (Winnetka, Ill.), Chris Bailey (Marietta, N.Y.),  Courtney Kennedy (Woburn, Mass.), Sue Merz (Greenwich, Conn.), A.J. Mleczko (Nantucket, Mass.), Tara Mounsey (Concord, N.H.), Angela Ruggiero (Harper Woods, Mich.), Lyndsay Wall (Churchville, N.Y.), Laurie Baker (Concord, Mass.), Karyn Bye (River Falls, Wis.), Julie Chu (Fairfield, Conn.), Natalie Darwitz (Eagan, Minn.), Tricia Dunn (Derry, N.H.), Cammi Granato (Downers Grove, Ill.), Andrea Kilbourne (Saranac Lake, N.Y.), Katie King (Salem, N.H.), Shelley Looney (Brownstown Twp., Mich.), Jenny Potter (Eagan, Minn.), and Krissy Wendell (Brooklyn Park, Minn.).    Finishing in second place among the Team of the Month nominees was the U.S. Greco Roman World Team.  The U.S. placed third as a team at the 2001 Greco-Roman World Championship in Patras, Greece, Dec. 6-9, its best placement ever at the World Championships. It is the first time the USA has claimed a team trophy at the World meet, which only goes to a team in the top three in the standings. Cuba claimed the teamn title, followed by Russia and the United States. A total of 55 teams competed in the tournament.    Bobsled's Team Hays took third place in the Team of the Month honors list. Todd Hays and crew followed up a great November with additional medal-winning performances in December. Hays and Pavle Javanovic placed sixth in Winterberg, Germany, their only non-top three performance of the season (Dec.1). They came back to win silver in then four-man race in Winterberg, with the fastest push times (by 0.03 seconds) of any other sled (Dec. 2). At the Verizon Championship Series two-man race (Dec. 21-22), Hays and Garrett Hines out-pushed everyone by 0.10 to win race #1. At the mid-point of the season, Todd Hays and crew have medaled on every stop of the World Cup tour.    Wrestling did not place in the top three of the Female Athlete of the Month. Devonne Canady and Jenny Potter tied for first in the Female voting.    RESULTS:    Men  1.Bode Miller-42  2.Rulon Gardner-38  3.Chris Soule-5    Team  1.USA Women's National Hockey-30  2.U.S. Greco Roman World Team-22  3.Team Hays-20   Also receiving first place votes: Kari Erickson Team (Curling), Men's  Caribbean Tournament Team (Boxing)    Women  1.Devonne Canady-27, Jenny Potter-27  2.Allison Dunlap-15  3.Amber Trotter-9  Also receiving first place votes: Kari Erickson