The Dallas Stars announced today that the team will unveil its new uniform and logo on Tuesday, June 4th at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas at 6:00 p.m. Owner and Governor Tom Gaglardi, President and CEO Jim Lites, General Manager Jim Nill, Executive Advisor and Alternate Governor Mike Modano and Stars forward Jamie Benn will all be a part of the special event.

“Since Tom Gaglardi took over as owner, we have been working diligently on a rebrand that is classic, simple and true-to-hockey,” said Lites. “This event will showcase the results of that process to our loyal fans and will also provide us with an opportunity to announce several new developments about the future of our franchise.”

Aside from unveiling the new logo and uniform, the team will also address the current state of the franchise and will make a significant announcement regarding the 2013-14 season.

Special invitations were sent in early May to Dallas Stars full season seat holders with instructions on how to secure a ticket for the special rebranding event.

Stars prospect Taylor Peters had no points and a plus-one rating for the Winterhawks, who recieved two goals and one assist from St. Louis prospect Ty Rattie and one goal and two assists from Philadelphia prospect Taylor Leier.

Portland defenseman Seth Jones, the top rated prospect for this summer’s NHL draft, had no points and a plus-four rating in the game.

London and Halifax play Tuesday night at the tournament.

Stars prospects at the Memorial Cup

Daniel Alfredsson of the Ottawa Senators, Dustin Brown of the Los Angeles Kings and Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks are the three finalists for the 2012-13 Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award presented by Bridgestone, which is presented to “the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice during the regular season,” the National Hockey League announced today.

Mark Messier solicits suggestions from club and League personnel and NHL fans to compile a list of potential candidates. However, the selection of the three finalists and ultimate winner is Messier’s alone.

Following are the finalists for the 2012-13 Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award presented by Bridgestone, in alphabetical order:

Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa Senators

Alfredsson, the NHL’s longest-serving active captain, leads the Senators in numerous categories, including games played, goals, assists and points. He has taken a leadership role off of the ice as well, working with the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa, the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health and the Sens Foundation. Alfredsson has supported the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa for the past 10 seasons, purchasing tickets and suites for club members to attend Senators games and serving as title sponsor of Ringside for Youth, the club’s primary fundraising event during the season. Since 2008, he also has been the spokesperson and champion for the Royal’s “You Know Who I Am” campaign, leading the way to help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues. In addition, Alfredsson has supported the Royal’s “Do It for Daron” campaign to assist in raising the profile of youth mental health issues.

Dustin Brown, Los Angeles Kings

Brown has spent his entire nine-year NHL career with the Kings, serving as their captain for the past five seasons. He was selected as the Kings’ Most Popular Player this season and is known for his physical playing style, which consistently places him among the League leaders in hits. Capitalizing on his aggressive style of play to help others, Brown makes a $50 donation for each hit he delivers to his opponents – a contribution he has made since the 2008-09 season. Those benefiting from this charitable initiative include the Newborn and Infant Critical Care Unit at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and KABOOM!, a relationship that has raised $60,000 and culminated with a special playground built in Carson, Calif., in September 2010.

Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks

Toews was named captain of the Blackhawks in 2008 when he was just 20-years-old, making him the third-youngest captain in NHL history at the time. While his leadership on the ice is undisputed, his role off the ice with various children’s charitable causes makes him an undeniable role model to fans. In his spare time, Toews volunteers to grant wishes through the Make-A-Wish Foundation and visits with patients at the local children’s hospital and Chicago’s Misericordia. Last fall, he returned home to join the Winnipeg Patrolmen Hockey Club and other NHL players for the “Goals for Dreams Hockey Challenge,” which helped raise $80,000 for the Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Dream Factory, a charity that grants dreams for critically and chronically ill children.

It was a big win for the Blades, who avoided dropping their first two games at the tournament. And they did it against a Halifax team that has lost only 11 times in 87 games this season, including both regular season and postseason.

Stransky, Dallas’ sixth round pick (165^th overall) in the 2011 NHL Draft, put the Blades up 1-0 at 12:11 of the first period, setting up shop near the net and then banging home the rebound of a centering pass.

Stransky made it a 2-0 game with 1:15 left in the second period, coming out of the penalty box, picking up a loose puck, breaking in all alone on net and scoring off a wrist shot.

The Blades built a 4-0 lead in the game before the Mooseheads scored a couple of quick goals in the third to make a game of it. But that’s as close as Halifax got and Saskatoon sealed the victory with a late empty net goal.

Both Saskatoon and Halifax are 1-1-0 at the tournament.

Portland (0-1-0) plays London (1-0-0) at the tournament on Monday.

Stars prospects at the Memorial Cup

Eriksson had one goal in Sunday’s game, scoring when a Henrik Sedin shot went off his skate in the third period to give Sweden a 4-1 lead.

Switzerland, which came into the championship tilt undefeated in nine games, jumped out to an early lead on a Roman Josi goal 4:45 into the first period. But the Swedes scored twice in less than three minutes later in the first to take the lead and never looked back.

It was Sweden’s ninth gold medal at the World Championship and first since 2006. Switzerland picked up a medal at the tournament for the first time since 1953.

Eriksson finished the tournament with 10 points (5 goals, 5 assists) in 10 games, leading Sweden in both goals and points. He ranked eighth among all players in points at the tournament and seventh in goals.

USA takes bronze in shootout

Team USA took the bronze medal at the World Championship, defeating Finland, 3-2, in a shootout. Alex Galchenyuk scored twice in the shootout for the USA and goaltender John Gibson had 36 saves in regulation and overtime and stopped three of four in the shootout.  The medal was the first for the USA since 2004, when it also won bronze.

Tournament awards

MVP: Roman Josi, Switzerland

Best Goalkeeper: Jhonas Enroth, Sweden
Best Defenseman: Roman Josi, Switzerland
Best Forward: Petri Kontiola, Finland

Tournament All-Star Team
Goaltender: Jhonas Enroth, Sweden
Defenseman: Roman Josi, Switzerland
Defenseman: Julien Vauclair, Switzerland
Forward: Petri Kontiola, Finland
Forward: Paul Stastny, USA
Forward: Henrik Sedin, Sweden

Sunday’s medal games

Bronze: USA 3, Finland 2 (SO)
Gold: Sweden 5, Switzerland 1

Statistics

Here are the statistics for the Dallas Stars players taking part in the World Championship.

Stars prospect Taylor Peters, signed by Dallas as a free agent back in March, had an assist in the game for Portland.

Peters had the primary assist on Troy Rutkowski’s goal early in the second that gave Portland a 2-1 lead. Peters was a plus-one on the night and picked up a roughing minor.

Nathan MacKinnon, one of the top prospects in this year’s NHL Draft, scored three goals and had an assist for Halifax. Jonathan Drouin, another top prospect in the draft, had one goal for Halifax. Defenseman Seth Jones, ranked No. 1 among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting for the draft, had one goal for Portland.

Stars prospect Matej Stransky will be in action Sunday when the Saskatoon Blades take on Halifax.

Stars prospects at Memorial Cup

“I thought we played really good today,” Eriksson told IIHF.com. “We got some important goals on the power play, in the third period we kept them out of our zone pretty good and our goalie (Jhonas Enroth) played really good for us. We played a really good team game.”

Sweden will play Switzerland for the gold medal on Sunday.

Sweden opened the scoring at 10:33 of the first period. With the Swedes on the power play, Henrik Sedin put a shot on net from the right circle and it deflected off Eriksson’s leg and into the net.

Eriksson scored again on the power play at 16:13 of the second, taking a pass from Henrik Sedin and tallying on a wrist shot from the slot to make it a 2-0 game.

Eriksson set up Sweden’s final goal, which came with Finland’s net empty. Eriksson forced a turnover along the boards and backhanded the puck to Henrik Sedin, who scored from the neutral zone with 23 seconds remaining to make it a 3-0 final.

Eriksson played on a line with Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin, logged 21:13 of ice time, had seven shots on goal and was a plus-one.

Through nine games, Eriksson leads Sweden in goals (4) and points (9).

Switzerland tops USA, 3-0

Reto Berra stopped 29 shots and Nino Niederreiter registered a goal and an assist as Switzerland defeated the USA, 3-0, to advance to Sunday’s gold medal game at the World Championship.

Switzerland, which has won all nine of its games at the tournament, has never won a gold medal at the World Championship.  The Swiss will get at least a silver medal this year, which will be their first since taking a bronze in 1953.

Saturday’s Semifinal results

Sweden 3, Finland 0
Switzerland 3, USA 0

Sunday’s medal games

Bronze:  Finland vs. USA, 9:00 a.m.
Gold: Switzerland vs. Sweden , 1:30 p.m.

Statistics

Here are the statistics for the Dallas Stars players taking part in the World Championship.

Stransky, Dallas’ sixth round pick (165^th overall) in the 2011 NHL Draft, had no points and an even rating for Saskatoon, which is the host team for the tournament.

The Blades, who were eliminated in the first round of the Western Hockey League playoffs and hadn’t played in 51 days, got off to a slow start but were able to hang tight with the Knights, the Ontario Hockey League champions.

The game was tied 2-2 going into the third period, but London scored on its sixth power play of the night in the final frame to snap the tie.

On Saturday Stars prospect Taylor Peters, a 2013 free agent signing, will be in action at the tournament when his Portland Winterhawks, the Western Hockey League champs, take on the Halifax Mooseheads, the champions of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

That game will feature the top three prospects for this summer’s NHL Draft. Defenseman Seth Jones plays for Portland, while center Nathan MacKinnon and left wing Jonathan Drouin both play for Halifax.

Stars prospects at Memorial Cup

Bruce Boudreau of the Anaheim Ducks, Paul MacLean of the Ottawa Senators and Joel Quenneville of the Chicago Blackhawks are the three finalists for the 2012-13 Jack Adams Award, presented to the head coach who has “contributed the most to his team’s success,” the National Hockey League announced today.

Members of the NHL Broadcasters’ Association submitted ballots for the Jack Adams Award at the conclusion of the regular season, with the top three vote-getters designated as finalists. The winner will be announced during the 2013 Stanley Cup Final, with more detail on format to be released at a later date.

Following are the finalists for the Jack Adams Award, in alphabetical order:

Bruce Boudreau, Anaheim Ducks

Boudreau, in his first full season behind the Anaheim bench, led the club to its finest regular season in franchise history, capturing the Pacific Division title and No. 2 seed in the Western Conference with a club-record points percentage (.688, 30-12-6). The Ducks made dramatic gains over 2011-12 in several categories, climbing from 25th to third in the overall NHL standings; from 23rd to eighth in average goals-per-game (2.45 to 2.79); from 19th to 11th in average goals-against (2.73 to 2.40); and from 21st to fourth in power-play percentage (16.6% to 21.5%). Boudreau is vying for his second career Jack Adams Award, having captured the trophy in 2007-08 with Washington in his first appearance as a finalist.

Paul MacLean, Ottawa Senators

MacLean guided the Senators (25-17-6) to a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs despite the extended absence of several key players due to injury. Defenseman Erik Karlsson, the reigning Norris Trophy winner, was limited to 17 games; defenseman Jared Cowen, the ninth overall pick in the 2009 NHL Draft, was sidelined for all but seven games; top forwards Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek played in just five and 23 contests, respectively; and starting goaltender Craig Anderson appeared in just 24 games. MacLean led a youthful Senators lineup, which included a League-high 14 rookies making at least one appearance, to the top defensive record in the Eastern Conference (2.08 goals-against per game). He earned his second consecutive berth as a Jack Adams finalist, finishing third as a rookie NHL head coach in 2012.

Joel Quenneville, Chicago Blackhawks

Quenneville’s Blackhawks posted a record start to the season by earning a point in each of their first 24 games (21-0-3), smashing the NHL’s longest previous season-opening streak of 16 games set by the Anaheim Ducks in 2006-07. The club went on to capture the Presidents’ Trophy as the League’s top regular-season club with a 36-7-5 record for 77 points. The Blackhawks ranked first overall in team defense (2.02 goals-against per game), second in offense (3.10 goals per game) and third in penalty killing (87.2%); posted a 26-2-1 mark when scoring first; and were 26-1-2 when leading after two periods. Quenneville captured the Jack Adams Award in 1999-2000 with St. Louis in his previous appearance as a finalist.