Brandon Kozun.

BY PATRICK KING
sportsnet.ca

BRANDON, Man. -- Secrecy continues to swirl around the MasterCard Memorial Cup.

The Western Hockey League's leading scorer, Calgary's Brandon Kozun, won't play in Monday's game between the Hitmen and the Windsor Spitfires. Kozun was seen Sunday at his hotel wearing a walking cast on his right foot and played sparingly in Calgary's first game.

"Buy a ticket and come see," Calgary head coach Mike Williamson said when asked if his star would be in the lineup.

Watch the game live on Sportsnet, and via webcast at sportsnet.ca, at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.

HALL HOMECOMING

Windsor forward Taylor Hall will come full circle with Monday's game. A native of Calgary, Hall spent much of his childhood watching and rooting for the city's two hockey teams: the NHL's Flames and WHL's Hitmen.

His family relocated to Kingston, Ont. prior to his WHL draft year, thus making him OHL property. Although he never played in the WHL, he has fond memories from his days as a fan.

"Eleven years (and) about a week ago I was watching the Calgary Hitmen win a (WHL) championship," he said Monday. "I was at the game in 1999 so it's a little bit of a homecoming."

WORLD JUNIOR CARRYOVER

Several players on both teams suited up in this year's world junior hockey championship for either Canada or the United States. Hall and his Windsor teammates Ryan Ellis, Adam Henrique and Greg Nemisz joined Kozun and Martin Jones of the Hitmen on the Canadian squad. Cam Fowler of the Spitfires captured gold on the American squad.

Ellis and Kozun bonded as they shared a similarity in their shorter stature.

"We gravitated towards each other," Ellis said. "I don't know if Kozun will be 100 per cent or not, but whether he is or not, he's a dangerous player."

"We were pretty good friends," Kozun said. "He's a real smart player and that's how it works for him."

Jones will be seeing plenty of Hall on Monday, but the Spitfires forward refrained from sending him a game-day text.

"We're pretty mean competitors," Hall said. "I don't think he'd really appreciate that. (Goalies are) kind of different."

Fowler's Americans were able to celebrate victory at the world juniors as a result of John Carlson's goal in overtime on Jones. Fowler said he hadn't spoken with Carlson on ways to beat the netminder.

"Obviously Carlson had his way with him," Fowler said. "(Jones) is one of the top goalies in our age and in the CHL. He deserves a lot of respect."

FINAL TIME CHANGE

The host committee announced a time change for Sunday's final. The game was originally scheduled to be played at 2 p.m. local time, but has now been changed to 6 p.m. local time (7 p.m. ET).

The move allows fans to watch the game on Rogers Sportsnet in prime time following the Stanley Cup playoffs and IIHF world championship final that afternoon.

MEDIA PRANK

One of the difficult aspects of covering a tournament spanning across three leagues is the lack of familiarity with some of the players. Following the Moncton Wildcats practice on Monday, media members were greeted by a member from the team.

One of the media members was brave enough to interview him without asking the question that ran through everyone's head: What's your name? It became apparent during the answer that the he was not a player, but the team's dressing room assistant, Jordan Landry.

The 12th-grader had actually been asked for an interview with Moncton radio, but without radio being present, Landry decided to speak with media anyways.