MINNESOTAHOCKEYJOURNAL.COM // OCTOBER.2015
18
STORM'S
COMING
SOUTH ST. PAUL NATIVE and
CAROLINA HURRICANES
DEFENSEMAN JUSTIN FAULK is
taking the NHL by storm as one
of the game's top young talents
J
USTIN FAULK has never been satisfied with
being just good enough. Since picking up his
first stick and stepping on to the ice at age 6,
he would remind himself that good enough
wasn't going to cut it.
Why should it?
A product of South St. Paul Youth Hockey Association,
the 23-year-old Faulk showed grit, determination and
overall skill early on. His hockey prowess led him to Ann
Arbor, Michigan where he spent two years with USA
Hockey's National Team Development Program. There
he helped Team USA to a gold-medal finish at the 2010
Under-18 World Championships, and a bronze-medal
finish at the 2011 World Junior Championships.
He returned to the State of Hockey and steered the
University of Minnesota-Duluth toward its first-ever
NCAA championship before joining the Hurricanes at
age 19.
In 2014, another Faulk first occurred when he was
named to the U.S. Olympic team. At just 21, he was the
youngest member of Team USA in Sochi, and one of the
youngest to compete for the team since they started
sending NHLers to the Games in 1998.
And despite his already hefty résumé that would
impress even the hockey gods, Faulk says his best is
yet to come.
"You're never satisfied with being just good enough,"
said Faulk. "You can't have that mentality. For me, I'm
thrilled to have worked to get to the place that I am at,
but I know I can always reach and work to be better."
By JESSI PIERCE