Here’s a Brent Burns slideshow to go with the Brent Burns story today.

It was Hump Day, as former Panthers coach/current Flyers assistant Terry Murray used to call it. He always felt Day 3 was the toughest of camp because the legs are usually mush. Wow, two days in a row, and you all got references to two of the Murray Bros.

Not today over at the White Bear Lake Sports Center. With 600 fans inside the building, the Wild put together its most up-tempo scrimmage of camp.

5-3 win by Team Passion over Team Preparation.

Marian Gaborik scored twice and gave up a chance for a hat trick by passing to Petr Kalus for an empty-netter. Ryan Hamilton also scored twice for the greenies.

Brian Rolston, Eric Belanger and Aaron Voros scored for the white team. It was a cool atmosphere over there as players signed autographs for the scores of kids in between halves and afterward. Props to 16-year-old Dominic Nardini, who won the sportsmanship essay to treat his community to a Wild practice.

Speaking of Voros, this hard-nosed guy, whom the Wild traded for in March, has been active all camp. He’s drawn the ire of a number of Wild veterans as he tries to make his mark on the Wild brass.

Yesterday, he hit Mark Parrish from behind, gave him a bloody eye and took a couple potshots from Mikko Koivu after. Today, he got punched in the face by Brent Burns after he ran Nolan Schaefer after the whistle, then was tackled hard to the ice by Burns after he got too close to goalie Barry Brust.

Then, every Wild player lost their mind when Voros creamed veteran Keith Carney in the open ice. I’ve covered this game a long time. I haven’t witnessed too many teammates more sacred than the respected Carney.

Voros scored after the play. Carney went after him. After a minor skirmish, a red-hot Stephane Veilleux began jawing at Voros and the two got into a cross-checking duel.

Burns also had a physical battle and wrestling match in the corner with a bloodied-up Matt Foy.

“I don’t know what I did to him,” Foy said. “He was once my roommate too. He better be buying me lunch.”

Honestly though, this is nothing compared to other training camp stuff I’ve seen over the years. Jacques Lemaire liked what he saw from Voros but seemed to also intimate that the kid better watch it and not injure one of the Wild’s significant players.

As for Voros though, hey, it’s mission accomplished. Jacques knows who he is now, and I can guarantee you, Jacques doesn’t know who a lot of these guys are.

Also, Pavol Demitra has been playing center the past three days. Lemaire indicated that Demitra will soon move back to left wing, where he played most of last season.

Talk to you tomorrow…Things will start to get interesting soon as the Wild plays three exhibition games in four nights beginning Tuesday.

Time to write.

P.S. I didn’t see it, but I got an email from our NBA writer Jerry Zgoda. He said on ESPN’s football pregame show, Kenny Mayne did a spoof on all the rule changes in football, notably the fact there’s a captain’s C on jerseys now.

Apparently, Mayne said this should allow Peyton Manning to someday be as recognizable as Minnesota Wild defenseman Willie Mitchell (showing clips of them both).

Funny stuff, although, little does Mayne know the Wild has probably had four or five captains since Mitchell, who by the way now plays in Vancouver. 

Hey, but it’s still funny.

Incidentally, don’t know if our football guys reported this, but a few weeks before the season, Vikings coach Brad Childress called up Wild GM Doug Risebrough to ask how the Wild chooses its captain and what Risebrough felt made a quality captain. They apparently spoke for a half-hour.

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