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The day in Leafland began with a short comment from Matthews.

“Obviously not something that I don’t think any of us really wish we were talking about today but I know unfortunately (the) situation (I’m) in. I mean, I, you know, regret any of my actions that would ever, you know, put a distraction on the team or distress an individual,” Matthews said.

“I take a lot of pride in, you know, preparing myself for the season, you know, representing the pc28����Maple Leafs as well as I can. So unfortunately, due to the situation, I can’t make any other comments but that’s all I have. And, you know, thank you guys for coming out.”

The Scottsdale Police released the body cam interview recorded when Fayola Dozithee filed her complaint where she says she was “p——ed off” at Matthews and his parents when they tried to deny to the condo’s management that the incident, including Matthews pulling down his pants, even happened.

“Now you’re calling me a liar and now I take offence,” Dothizee told police. “That’s what rubbed me the wrong way. Like, how dare you lie.”

Dothizee told police Matthews and his parents said nothing to her after they were shown the footage of his pants at his feet in the condo building: “The fact you’re trying to deny it and your pompous dad is acting like you’re practically Jesus and would never do such a thing, he had no response after we sent him the footage. He had nothing to say.”

She also said the family should not cover for Matthews. “If he can start doing this now and you’re covering for him, then what’s to say it’s not going to get worse when he gets older. That’s what rubbed me the wrong way.”

Most of the video recounts the events already reported from the police report, but does add a few nuggets not in the report:

• Dothizee told the police the condo manager has said they’d received complaints about Matthews before and that the condo company would support her if she filed charges.

• She also said one of Matthews’ friends pleaded on his behalf not to report the incident of Matthews and his two friends trying to get into her car.

But she said while the friend made his plea, that’s when Matthews “bends over with his pants down at the entrance and the guy talking to me says ‘See that s—- he’s doing, he’s been doing that up and down Scottsdale Rd. I keep telling him he can get arrested by the cops. But he doesn’t give a s—- ...’

“I said you need to get your friend in his apartment and have him pull his pants up because I’m pretty sure none of the residents here want to see him with his pants down.”

Some might chalk this up to a boys-will-be-boys incident that spilled over into the public realm when it became known that a hearing — a procedural one that Matthews was not required to attend — was being held Wednesday in Arizona.

There have been some well publicized recent incidents involving hockey players, including that of Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane, who was accused but never formally charged of rape in 2015. And there was the case of Flyers captain Claude Giroux, who got into a butt-grabbing incident with a male police officer in 2014.

Giroux was arrested and spent a night locked up, but was not charged after what he later called “a misguided attempt at humour” by repeatedly grabbing the buttocks of the officer in Ottawa’s Byward Market on Canada Day, 2014. Witnesses said Giroux “mocked” the officer and grabbed his buttocks three times, while also swearing at the officer.

To former Flyer Matt Read, a veteran in Leafs camp on a professional tryout, the Giroux incident shows even leaders can make mistakes, and even leaders can be forgiven.

“Claude came out and said what happened, and apologized,” Read said. “I wouldn’t say it was a big thing in the room. It was addressed and forgotten real quickly. He apologized to the team. We accepted it and moved on.”

Addressing the issue and moving on appears to be what Matthews and his teammates are trying to do.

“We want to support him and make sure all is OK with him,” centre John Tavares said. “He’s obviously addressed it. He doesn’t want to cause any distraction. I think he just wants to play and carry on like he always has and focus on playing and being himself.”

It can be a particularly hot spotlight if there’s the mere suggestion a Leafs player has stepped over a line, since the franchise itself sets a high bar.

“The pc28����Maple Leafs, we really pride ourselves on doing things right, on the ice, off the ice, and treating people. It’s an unfortunate situation,” head coach Mike Babcock said. “Anything that goes bad, what you do is you take it and you get better — as an organization that makes you a better organization. We got a close family inside. We’re going to look after Auston and we’re going to look after our actions.”

Rielly has been under this kind of spotlight twice in his time in Toronto. He was accused of using a homophobic slur on the ice last year, and in 2015 he compared the work ethic of the then-struggling team to that of “girls.”

“It can be tough,” Rielly said. “When I went through something, you try not to read about it. We don’t take this job for granted, and I think that applies to Auston as well. We feel very lucky to play here in Toronto. We feel very lucky to have the jobs that we do. We try not to take it for granted, try to treat people with respect, carry ourselves in a manner to be proud of, Auston is no different than that.”