TORONTO — It won’t be a hockey rivalry intense enough to divide families or drive TV ratings, but it makes July a lot more compelling in these parts.

The Maple Leafs capped their development camp by having draft picks play against a group of free agents, providing some spice on the ice. The tryouts, who have been practising separately the past few days, triumphed 6-3 on Tuesday, with the benefit of three intra-squad games and a desire to show up their highly publicized opponents.

“We have a lot to prove,” said undersized right winger Jake Tortora, who had a hat trick after doing likewise Monday in an free-agents game. “They were a great team and we came out flying. It was good for me to score, but it feels way better to get the win.”

The draftees lineup included this year’s top pick, defenceman Timothy Liljegren, and a blue line wall of Eemeli Rasanen, Fedor Gordeev, Keaton Middleton and Nicolas Mattinen. Up front, there was 130-point WHL scorer Adam Brooks and other juniors of note, including J.J. Piccinich, Martins Dzierkals and Vladimir Bobylev.

Leafs player personnel staff in the stands at the MasterCard Centre, who were in charge the last few drafts, were not hiding from club president Brendan Shanahan after the game. They had invited the 31 extras to camp for this very reason, to find some diamonds in the rough who had eluded them and give their homegrown players a scrappy foe for a couple of games.

Brooks knew exactly what was fuelling the opposition, himself twice ignored on draft day.

“Being passed over, you’re that much more motivated to get out there and work against guys who were picked,” he said. “They beat us all over the ice so we have to be way better (in Game 2 Wednesday).”

The picks were kept strictly on a practice schedule until Tuesday, getting a lion’s share of attention from the coaches in detailed drills. That, however, meant their ‘A’ game was somewhere between a ‘B’ and ‘C’ on Tuesday morning.

“I got a bit gassed in the first couple of shifts,” admitted Liljegren, the 17th overall pick in June. “But after a while you are starting to get the feeling and it’s fun. I got a couple of good passes, a couple of shots and I should’ve scored a couple.”

Piccinich, a 2014 selection who racked up 72 points in his final year with the London Knights, thought it was beneficial to get spanked by the underdogs.

“If you get a little outside your comfort zone, that’s a good thing,” he said. “A lot of us haven’t played organized hockey in a bit. That’s not an excuse, they were able to tilt the ice and do a good job, but the important thing is to implement the tactical stuff you’ve been learning here all week.”

BIG TREE D

The camp invites began the game staring across centre at a defence that included Rasanen (6-feet-7), Gordeev (6-6), Middleton (6-6), Mattinen (6-5) and J.D. Greenway (6-4).

“For sure, we have a force back there,” said Gordeev. “We’re a big group and that helps out a lot. (But) we took them lighter than we should have.”

Middleton crunched Tortora early in the game, while Gordeev got a good belt in on Kristian Pospisil, before his line with Tortura and Austin Rueschhoff blew the game open.

“To be honest, I’m not usually a guy who uses my body,” said Gordeev, a 2017 pick born in Russia and raised in Toronto. “But I definitely interpreted (that approach must change). I’m a big guy, that’s what I have to do.”

FLY LIKE AN EAGLE

If the Leafs or any other NHL team want Tortora, the 17-year-old insists he’ll be spending this coming season at Boston College as a freshman with the Eagles.

“They have a lot of small forwards there,” said Tortora, who is listed at 5-foot-8. “Jerry York is a great coach and they’ve been generating small forwards, such as Johnny Gaudreau, Nathan Gerbe and the Giontas (Brian and Stephen). We talked a lot. So, I think I could fit in there. I knew those guys as players and I wanted to go there. This (camp) gains a lot of confidence for me.”

Tortora, who was a member of the U.S. National Development Team Program, might get world junior tournament consideration. For a time, he lived in Toronto and faced Gordeev in the GTHL.

VIEW FROM THE TOP

Shanahan, general manager Lou Lamoriello and coach Mike Babcock have alternated appearances at the six-day camp, in addition to the constant presence of the player personnel department.

“They’ve been around all week (but) you can’t focus on that,” Brooks said. “You just have to take care of what you’re doing on the ice. If you start looking in the stands and getting nervous, that’s when you have bad performances.”

Brooks, who likely will be a big part of the Marlies this season, says his second development camp has been a whirlwind.

“I’m working on everything,” he said. “These guys throw so much stuff at you, whether it’s picking up pucks in the corner, the way you turn out off the corner and the way you skate down the ice. They have an unbelievable staff here and you try to take something from all of them and make your game more complete.”

LOOSE LEAFS

Forward Jeremy Bracco was absent for a third straight day with an illness ... Rueschhoff had three assists in support of Tortora on Tuesday, Pospisil a goal and assist on Tuesday. Piccinich led his team with a goal and assist on a Brooks marker .... When Tuesday’s game ended, St. Andrew’s College teammates Ryan O’Connell and Corey Andonovski lingered on the ice for a picture in their opposing Leaf sweaters. Defenceman O’Connell was taken 203rd overall in last month’s draft, Toronto’s last pick, while forward Andonovski was an invite ... Brooks was asked if nutrition seminars these past few days have made him a better cook. “I’d be lying if I said I walked in (the dressing room) and most of the stuff wasn’t mostly made for us,” he said. “But that’s part of moving up to this level, learning how to cook. I better get on that.” ... Goalie Ian Scott didn’t want to spend all of draft day glued to the TV at his Calgary home to see if he’d be picked. “I was trying to take my mind off it,” he recalled. “I watched a bit of it and went to play video games. Then my agent called and I heard my mom scream I’d been drafted by the Leafs.” ... The Marlies’ 76-game AHL schedule was released Tuesday. They have three new North Division foes this season: the Laval Rocket (Montreal), Belleville Senators (Ottawa) and the Binghamton Devils (New Jersey). Toronto’s home opener is Oct. 7 at Ricoh Coliseum against Utica.

lhornby@postmedia.com