We Got Chicken: A Cane's Challenge Analysis
The 2025-26 Season saw the return of the Cane's Challenge, we take a look at how it went and how it could have gone
The Cane’s Challenge, a storied part of BU Hockey home games of the 2010s returned in the 2025–26 after a years long absence.
What’s the Cane’s Challenge?
It’s simple. We make the challenge. If the BU Terriers beat the challenge, head over to Raising Cane’s after the game, order any chicken finger combo, and get a second combo totally free.
Each Terriers’ home game during the first media timeout of the first period, a challenge is presented to those in attendance at Agganis Arena. It can range from a Freshman scores to the goalie make 20 saves and if the Terriers complete it, fans get free chicken.
Y’all Got It? We Got It
Here’s Today’s Challenge
October 4th (LIU 4-1 W) - A Freshman Scores: FAILED
A tough start to the season, as despite scoring 4 goals, none were by freshman. 14 of 20 home games had at least 1 goal scored by a freshman. Only 5 of the 12 Freshman who played a game at home scored: Jack Murtagh (5), Jonathan Morello (4), Ryder Ritchie (4), Conrad Fondrk (1), Charlie Trethewey (1). Just 29.41% of Terrier goals at Agganis this season were scored by Freshman. Of the 18 other Cane’s Challenges— “A Freshman Scores” was repeated on January 30th—13 would have been successful in this game. This was one of only 3 where the Terriers beat the 30+ save challenge (36 saves)
Number of Games “A Freshman Scores”: 14
Number of Challenges Complete on October 4th: 14
October 5th (RPI 3-0 W (ex)) - BU allows 2 or fewer goals: SUCCESS
For the first time in 2025-26, the Terriers beat the Cane’s Challenge. Max Lacroix shut out the RPI Engineers earning Terrier Nation free chicken fingers. It is the 2nd in span of 4 four games that the Terriers allowed 2 or few goals.
Number of Games “BU allowed 2 or fewer goals”: 13
Number of Challenges Complete on October 5th: 13
October 10th (Colgate 6-2 W) - A Sophomore Scores: SUCCESS
The Terriers beat the Cane’s Challenge in back to back games. Cole Hutson fed the fans straight away with a goal at 19:07 in the season, his first time beating the challenge in the season. Had Hutson not scored Cole Eiserman added two of his own that would have satisfied the requirements. The 8 Sophomores scored 25 goals at home, the most among the 4 classes. The 16 Challenges complete in this game was a season high.
Number of Games “A Sophomore Scores”: 15
Number of Challenges Complete on October 10th: 16 (most)
October 11th (Colgate 2-2 T (OT)) - BU Makes 30+ Saves: FAILED
The hardest Cane’s Challenge came in the 4th game of the season. Just 3 times did BU make 30+ saves at home. All 3 occurred within the first 6 games of the season with Mikhail Yegorov making 36 saves in game one vs. LIU and exactly 30 in both games vs. Michigan State on October 17th and 18th.
Number of Games “BU Makes 30+ Saves”: 3
Number of Challenges Complete on October 11th: 9
October 17th (Michigan State 2-4 L) - BU scores a goal in the 2nd Period: FAILED
The 2nd period was the Terriers worst at home this season scoring just 15 goals in the period. After scoring 6 second period goals in their first 4 home games, they recorded 9 in their last 14.
Number of Games “BU scores a goal in the 2nd Period”: 11
Number of Challenges Complete on October 17th: 9
October 18th (Michigan State 3-4 L) - BU record 25 shots on goal Period: SUCCESS
After a few “hard” challenges October 18th saw BU’s “easiest” challenge as the Terriers recorded 25+ shots on goals on in all but 2 home games (October 17th (20) and November 7th (21)).
Number of Games “BU recorded 25 shots on goal”: 18
Number of Challenges Complete on October 18th: 12
October 24th (Connecticut 4-8 L) - BU scores a PPG: FAILED
The Terriers started the season with 7 PPG in their first 5 home games but ended the season with 9 in their last 15 with 3 coming in their exhibition vs. Simon Fraser on January 3rd and 2 coming in the playoff game vs. Vermont on March 11th. As a result, BU recorded just 4 PPGs in 13 of their last 15 home games.
Number of Games “BU scored a PPG”: 10
Number of Challenges Complete on October 24th: 11
November 7th (Merrimack 3-2 W (OT)) - BU scores in the 1st 5 minutes of a period: SUCCESS
It took until the last shot of the game to beat this challenge with Cole Hutson, scoring his 2nd Cane's Challenge beating goal of the season 21 seconds into overtime. Despite only scoring goals in the 1st 5 minutes of a period in 9 home games, in 5 of them they recorded multiple goals in the 1st 5 minutes of periods.
Number of Games “BU scored in the 1st 5 minutes of a period”: 9
Number of Challenges Complete on November 7th: 12
November 22nd (Northeastern 4-3 W (OT)) - A Defenseman scores: SUCCESS
Who else but Cole Hutson, the only player so far to score a Cane’s Challenge winning does it again. Hutson, scoring twice in the game, including the game winner in overtime. Of the 10 goals scored by defensemen at Agganis this season, Cole Hutson scored 7.
Number of Games “A Defenseman scored”: 10
Number of Challenges Complete on November 22nd: 15
December 5th (Vermont 2-1 W) - BU scores 3+ goals: FAILED
After scoring 3+ goals in 7 of their first 9 home games, including each of their last 4 the Terriers failed to reach the threshold when it mattered most. They would only score 3+ goals in 2 of their next 7 homes including this game. They ended the season with 4 straight games scoring 3+ goals.
Number of Games “BU scored 3+ goals”: 13
Number of Challenges Complete on December 5th: 10
December 6th (Vermont 2-3 L) - BU makes 20+ saves: FAILED
By far the Terriers’ worst Cane’s Challenge performance in a non-shutout, Mikhail Yegorov made just 17 saves in the game. The start of a span of 3 straight home games which the Terriers made less than 20 saves. It was also part of 6 game span in which they recorded less than 20 saves in 4 of 6 home games. The only time they made that few saves was during that span, as this Cane’s Challenge would have been beat in 16 of 20 home games.
Number of Games “BU made 20+ saves”: 16
Number of Challenges Complete on December 6th: 4
January 3rd (Simon Fraser 8-2 W (ex)) - A Junior scores: SUCCESS
For the first time this season a goal related Cane’s Challenge was beat by someone other than Cole Hutson—because, well, he couldn’t, as he’s a sophomore—as junior Jack Harvey pots two in the win over Simon Fraser. Of the 5 juniors on the Terriers just three scored goals at home: Gavin McCarthy, Jack Harvey, and Mick Frechette. The juniors scored 12 goals at home this season with Harvey scored 9 of them.
Number of Games “A Junior scored”: 10
Number of Challenges Complete on January 3rd: 14
January 10th (UMass-Amherst 0-2 L) - BU scores a 3rd period goal: FAILED
In 1 of their 2 home games with the fewest Cane’s Challenges complete. From December 6th through the end of the season the Terriers failed to score a 3rd period goal in just two games, this one, and their shutout to Providence on January 24th. 12 Terriers combined for BU’s 25 third period goals at home this season, led by Jack Harvey with 6.
Number of Games “BU scored a 3rd period goal”: 15
Number of Challenges Complete on January 10th: 2
January 16th (UMass-Lowell 3-4 L (OT)) - BU scores the first goal of the game: SUCCESS
Jonathan Morello becomes just the 3rd Terrier this season to be the player who beats the Cane’s Challenge with his goal at 15:53 in the first. From January 10th through February 6th, Morello’s goal was the only time BU scored first in the five game span. 10 different Terriers scored the first goal of the game in 12 home games, led by Cole Eiserman and Jonathan Morello with two each.
Number of Games “BU scored the first goal of the game”: 12
Number of Challenges Complete on January 16th: 11
January 24th (Providence 0-4 L) - Terrier whose number is a multiple of 11 scores: FAILED
In the 2nd home shutout of the season the Terriers would have beat just 2 Cane’s Challenges—recording 25+ Shots on Goal and making 20+ saves. This was a tough challenge, as only 4 Terriers’ numbers are multiples of 11: Tynan Lawrence (11), Aiden Celebrini (22), Max Lacroix (33), and Cole Hutson (44). Lawrence joined mid-season, Celebrini did not score a goal this season, and Max Lacroix was the back-up goalie. As a result, this was only ever accomplished by Cole Hutson who scored 7 goals in 6 home games. This was only of 3 challenges that were only beat in less than half of the 20 home games—BU scoring the 1st five minutes of a period, and BU making 30+ saves the only one with fewer instances.
Number of Games “Terrier whose number is a multiple of 11 scored”: 6
Number of Challenges Complete on January 24th: 2
January 30th (Boston College 1-4 L) - A Freshman scores: FAILED
The only repeat Challenge of the season, was again failed.
Number of Games “A Freshman Scores”: 14
Number of Challenges Complete on January 30th: 6
February 6th (Maine 3-2 W (OT)) - A Terrier with a 2 in their number scores: SUCCESS
Another Cane’s Challenge won in overtime, as #21 Ryder Ritchie scored the game winner. 8 Terriers have a 2 in their number: #2 Gavin McCarthy, #12 Jack Harvey, #21 Ryder Ritchie, #22 Aiden Celebrini, #23 Owen McLaughlin, #25 Ben Merrill, #26 John McNelis, #27 Kyle Kim. Just 4 of those Terriers scored a goal at home led by Jack Harvey (9), Ryder Ritchie (5), Gavin McCarthy (2), Owen McLaughlin (2).
Number of Games “A Terrier with a 2 in their number scored”: 13
Number of Challenges Complete on February 6th: 13
February 14th (New Hampshire 5-3 W) - BU Wins: SUCCESS
Valentine’s Day saw the simplest challenge of the season: BU wins, free chicken. Indeed, BU stepped up to the challenge. BU won just 9 home games this season (11 including exhibitions), which matches their lowest since 2021-22—also 9. The 15 Cane’s Challenge complete in this game was 1 of 3 games in which they beat 15+ challenges.
Number of Games “BU Won”: 11
Number of Challenges Complete on February 14th: 15
February 27th (Boston College 3-1 W) - A player with a B or U in their name scores: FAILED
The final Cane’s Challenge of the season was an interesting one. 11 different Terriers had a B or U in their name, however just 8 of those recorded a goal at home. This cohort was led by Cole Hutson (7), followed by Jack Murtagh (6), Sacha Boisvert (3), Brandon Svoboda (2), Kamil Bednarik (2), Owen McLaughlin (2), Nick Roukounakis (1), and Sascha Boumedienne (1). From October 10th through January 3rd there was a span of 10 games where a player with a B or U scored (16 combined goals).
Number of Games “A player with a B or U in their name scored”: 14
Number of Challenges Complete on February 27th: 11
March 11th (Vermont 4-1 W) - None
The final home game of the season the Hockey East Opening Round game vs. Vermont did not have a Cane’s Challenge.
Number of Challenges Complete on March 11th: 14
We Want Chicken 👏👏 👏👏👏
In the table below we reordered the slate of challenges to make every game a winner. All but 1 successful challenge remained on its original day except the October 5th challenge—BU allows 2 or fewer goals. Green indicates the challenge was originally a success, red indicates failures.
BU finished with a 7-2-0 record when beating the Cane’s Challenge and a 3-6-1 record when failing the Cane’s Challenge.
Let’s take a look at BU’s record when they met each of the various challenges
BU’s record when:
A Freshman scores: 9-4-1
Allow 2 goals or fewer: 9-3-1
A Sophomore Scores: 10-4-1
BU’s goalie makes 30+ saves: 1-2-0
BU scores in the 2nd: 8-2-1
BU has 25+ shots: 10-7-1
BU PPG: 7-3-0
BU scores in first 5 mins of period: 5-3-1
A defenseman scores: 8-2-0
BU scores 3+ goals: 10-3-0
20+ Saves: 10-5-1
A Junior Scores: 7-3-0
BU scores in the 3rd period: 9-5-1
BU scores the first goal of the game: 10-2-0
Multiple of 11 scores a goal: 6-0-0
A Freshman scores: 9-4-1
Player with a 2 in their number: 8-5-0
BU wins: 11-0-0
A player with a ‘B’ or ‘U’ in their name scores: 9-4-1
Top Performers
Cole Hutson—King of the Cane’s Challenge—finished the season beating the Challenge 3 times, with Jonathan Morello, Jack Harvey, and Ryder Ritchie each beating it once.
Like the logos you’ve seen in this analysis? We have them available on our Tee Public.