SCHOFIELD’S THREE POINTS LEAD CHIEFS TO OPENING WIN

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – Jacob Schofield set up the game’s first two goals and rounded out the scoring himself to lead the Red Deer Chiefs to a 5-1 win over the Rousseau Royal de Laval-Montréal in the first game for both Monday at the 2013 TELUS Cup.

It’s the second win in a row for Red Deer over the Quebec representatives at the TELUS Cup; the Chiefs beat Collège Esther-Blondin 6-5 in double overtime in last year’s gold medal game to win their first national title.

Jody Sick and Ryker Leer scored in the first period, Chase Thudium added one in the second and Jack Goranson had a goal in the third for Red Deer (1-0), which outshot the Rousseau Royal 32-22.

Marc-Antoine Germain scored the lone goal for Laval-Montréal, who are the first Quebec team to lose their tournament opener at the National Midget Championship since Collège Charles-Lemoyne in 1997.

Sick got the scoring started just 3:46 in, redirecting a pass from Schofield past Alexandre Duckett, and Leer doubled the lead 12 minutes later as his backhand found its way through the Laval-Montréal netminder.

After Germain cut the Red Deer lead in half early in the second period, Thudium tipped in a Colton Bobyk point shot on a Chiefs power play to restore the two-goal lead.

Goranson finished off a pretty set-up from Trey Degraaf for the 4-1 goal six minutes into the third before Schofield capped the scoring with an individual effort that was the end of the night for Duckett.

Matt Zentner made 21 saves for Red Deer, while Duckett and Stefano Cantali combined for 27 stops in the Rousseau Royal goal.

The Chiefs will go for two in a row when they face the host Sault Ste. Marie North Stars on Tuesday night (7:30 p.m. ET), while Laval-Montréal will go for win No. 1 against Saskatoon in the day’s early game (noon ET).