BULLY BAN

NHL Commissioner: Player Who Abused Black Classmate Is Ineligible

Mitchell Miller was convicted as a teen of a racist attack on a developmentally challenged boy.

National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman said Saturday that a Boston Bruins recruit, Mitchell Miller, is ineligible to play because of a past conviction for a racist attack on a high-school classmate. Miller pleaded guilty in 2016 to assaulting Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, who was developmentally challenged, and using racial slurs against the 14-year-old. The Bruins’ signing of Miller and their assignment of him to an American Hockey League affiliate in Providence did not sit well with many Boston fans, current players, or Bettman. “Nobody should think, at this point he is, or may ever be, N.H.L. eligible. And the Bruins understand that now,” the commissioner said.