The National Lacrosse League's franchise in San Jose will be known as the Stealth, league and team officials announced today.

The Stealth, which played four seasons as the Albany Attack before relocating in June, will share the ten-year-old HP Pavilion with the NHL's San Jose Sharks and Arena Football's San Jose SabreCats.

San Jose Stealth logo.

"The Stealth is covert, crafty, evasive, cunning and sly," Silicon Valley Sports and Entertainment executive vice president Malcolm Bordelon said. "Along with the name, we are introducing our logo and team marks - a lacrosse operative and radar insignia."

Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Sharks, will run the team's business and promotional operations.

"We plan to build a team characterized by the qualities that the lacrosse 'operative' and radar represent - the lacrosse operative, a stealthy player who makes his moves fast, decisively and with great precision, great speed and great skill and the radar which represents the need for accuracy required in special ops as well as the game of lacrosse," Bordelon added.

The logo, which resembles a more serious version of the original Ottawa Rebel insignia, features a stick-wielding black ninja set in front of a red target circle and the word "Stealth" in large gray letters. The ninja and the lettering is surrounded by red trim.

Terry Smith Creations designed the logo. TSC also produced identities for the Sharks, SabreCats, Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes, and the Women's United Soccer Association's San Jose CyberRays.

Bordelon said that several factors went into selecting the team's name, including marketing potential, promotional ability, and merchandising.

The name was selected from over 2000 entries in a "Name The Team" contest. Pierce Stanley of San Jose was the big winner, scoring four season tickets, a team-autographed jersey, and the chance to conduct the ceremonial faceoff on opening night, 10 January against the Colorado Mammoth.

In what could be a very good sign of things to come, representatives from two other Bay Area sports teams sent their best wishes to the Stealth.

"I'd like to say welcome to the Stealth to the Bay Area and wish the best of luck for a great future in San Jose," Golden State Warriors (NBA) head coach Eric Musselman said.

In related news, the Stealth introduced Johnny Mouradian as its head coach. Mouradian, who helped assemble the Stealth's ownership group and already was the team's general manager, becomes the third head coach in franchise history, following Terry Sanderson (2000-2001) and Bob McMahon (2002-2003).

Mouradian is hardly a stranger to the National Lacrosse League, although this will be his first turn behind the bench. As general manager of the Buffalo Bandits from 1992 to 1994, Mouradian and head coach Les Bartley built an almost-instant winner. Buffalo lost its first three games, then ran off 22 straight wins en route to championships in 1992 and 1993.

Mouradian and Bartley moved on to the Ontario Raiders in 1998, again constructing an immediate contender. The Raiders just missed the playoffs that year, but once the club moved to Toronto (renamed the Rock), it took off, claiming four of the last five titles.

After two of those championships, though, Mouradian was gone again, off to manage the Rock's sister franchise, the Ottawa Rebel. Unable to turn around the troubled Rebel, he was fired in January 2002.

Tomorrow, the former New Jersey Storm -- now operating in Anaheim, California -- will get its new name, leaving only Arizona Lacrosse (Columbus Landsharks) without a logo or nickname.