The Boston Globe provided the following account of the incident in February 2014, as told by McCloskey and purportedly backed up by other members of the UNH Wildcats women's hockey team:
By McCloskey’s account — echoed by the player who declined to be named — the altercation quickly followed Breedlove’s exit from the ice to the bench. McCloskey had been shouting instructions, correcting mistakes Breedlove made on her shift, as she skated toward the bench. When she hopped over the boards and into the bench area, he said, she glanced his way, then turned her back on him to face the ice.