Late on Friday, social media crackled with a torrent of responses to a New York Rangers tweet.
The Rangers hosted a Zoom Q&A session with their newly signed defensive prospect, K’Andre Miller.
Miller was a find in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft with the 22nd pick, and the Rangers have been high on him since that draft. He got a look in training camp in 2019 and impressed.
Miller spent the season patrolling the blueline for the Wisconsin Badgers
The video conference was intended for fans to meet Miller via a chat and Q&A session.
Instead, the session devolved, or rotted, into a racist rant by one participant. The caller was shut down as quickly as possible, but not before the damage was done.
It serves no purpose to dive into the particulars of the rant. That only provides some measure of satisfaction for a cretan such as this.
The NHL reply was swift and released the following statement:
“The National Hockey League is appalled that a video call arranged today by the New York Rangers to introduce their fans to one of the League’s incoming stars, K’Andre Miller, was hacked with racist, cowardly taunts. The person who committed this despicable act is in no way an NHL fan and is not welcome in the hockey community.
“No one deserves to be subjected to such ugly treatment and it will not be tolerated in our League. We join with the Rangers in condemning this disgusting behavior.”
The Rangers released a similar statement and said they were investigating. Fortunately, these types of individuals are the not brightest bulbs in the lamp, and therefore a quick trace through the Zoom records will likely reveal ISP and location.
Miller, 20, stands 6-5 and weighs in at 210-pounds. He has iced in 62 collegiate games over two seasons (2018-19 and 2019-20) with the Badgers, potting 12 goals and 28 assists for 40 points.
It is inconceivable, I know I am being naive, that this sort of behavior is still prevalent. We hope this individual is ferreted out, and if an NHL-ticket holder, that privilege is revoked forthwith.
The was not the fist incident in the NHL, and it will sadly not be the last.
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