Skaters in the NHL don’t reach the 1000 career games played marker by mistake. It takes a lifetime of hard work, dedication, consistency, and a true love for the game of hockey. The APX staff all couldn’t be more proud of Justin Faulk with reaching this incredible milestone and know that there are plenty more achievements that will come his way in the future. The Minnesota native is simply ‘built different’ and is a lifelong learner and hard worker, not just with his hockey career but within all aspects of his life.

Faulk, who is originally from South St. Paul, joined the APX training program at 13-years-old and has been a part of our family now for 20 years. He is actually the longest-running athlete in our entire training program.

“From starting out at 13 to now 33 it has always been a place that challenged me to achieve my goals,” said the current defenseman for the St. Louis Blues about why he has chosen to come back to APX each summer.

“Over the years that I have been at APX, the program has always evolved to meet athletes at their current level and state of their career. Most importantly, the ability to service the needs and inspire the players at all ages has not wavered,” he added. “All aspects of the training programs have changed and grown since I started whether that be on-ice development, off-ice training, or the educational aspect. The educational aspect has definitely increased over the years and is a great tool for development as it allows people to truly understand why they are doing things … players are able to take pride in the work they are doing, which can pave the way for exponential growth.”

“I have continued to come back to APX because of the environment it fosters. There’s always accountability to the daily tasks, a competitive culture with not only yourself but also your peers,” he continued. “All of this is set by how the staff operates and cares for the athletes. Without the commitment of the APX staff this wouldn’t be possible. I can’t go without saying that every day I show up to APX there are numerous laughs from the staff and group of players I get to train with. The relationships that have developed over 20 years are really special. I enjoy being able to go in everyday and work with a group that not only is committed to their craft but wants to have fun along the way!”

Erik Rasmussen, the General Manager of APX Hockey, first met Faulk after he completed his lone season of college hockey at the University of Minnesota Duluth. He says that Faulk is an extremely dedicated athlete and one who is constantly striving to get better every day by putting tons of work in both on and off the ice, he doesn’t take shortcuts. The NHL defenseman is a lifelong learner who is constantly in search of knowledge and is driven to find answers and routes to success in not just hockey but in all aspects of his life.

“The reason why he’s successful is because of his dedication. He’s very disciplined and doesn’t miss, he doesn’t just take time off just to take time off, he puts the time and effort in to get to where he is and to make sure that he’s capable of playing. I won’t speak on behalf of him, but his goal isn’t just 1000 games, it’s much more,” said Rasmussen about Faulk. “He’s driven differently. The one thing about Justin is that Justin will always do the work, whatever work is necessary.”

“He’s always had a tremendous connection with everyone on the staff and at this stage, not just from a longevity standpoint, he’s like family to us. It’s been wildly rewarding for our staff to have supported an incredible career like his,” added APX Director of Player Development, Wes Jirovec. “Everybody loves seeing him at the rink. He’s got a good energy about wanting to put work in … He’s always just had a really good presence because that’s a huge part of his life and a huge recipe for his success.”

You can talk to just about anyone that is a part of the APX staff and you’ll find that they have countless fun stories about Faulk along with a ton of respect for his career and the hard work that he has put in over the past 20 years.

Faulk started training with the APX program before he joined the ranks of high school hockey, where he competed at South St. Paul High School before he earned a spot at the U.S. National Team Development Program.

The 6-foot defenseman spent two seasons with the NTDP before being drafted in the 2nd round of the 2010 NHL Draft by the Carolina Hurricanes. He then made the moved into college hockey for one season at the University of Minnesota Duluth where he would win a national title with the Bulldogs in 2011 after defeating Michigan in overtime at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul under head coach Scott Sandelin. He was named to the Frozen Four All-Tournament Team as well. As just a freshman, Faulk was the highest-scoring defenseman on the entire roster by potting 33 points through 39 games played - numbers that are extremely high for such a young athlete competing in the NCAA. He also won a bronze medal with Team USA at the World Junior Championships that season too, so it’s safe to say that the 2010-11 season was a big one for Faulk.

After one season with UMD, the defenseman from St. Paul decided to sign his entry-level contract with the Carolina Hurricanes organization. It wasn’t necessarily an easy rise into the big club for Faulk as he likes to joke that he played ‘horribly’ during his first three NHL games and then got sent down to the AHL Charlotte Checkers squad after that, but that he wouldn’t change a thing with how things played out for him after that. He learned a lot of lessons that season and playing in Charlotte gave him a bit of a reset.

Things didn’t get any easier from there though as the Hurricanes would fire head coach Paul Maurice about halfway through Faulk’s first full season with the organization, so obviously things could have gone in many different directions from there but he gives credit to Dave Lewis, an assistant coach for Carolina at the time, for helping guide him through his first few seasons of pro hockey and the ups and downs that came with it. Faulk wound up playing well and was voted on the NHL All-Rookie Team for the 2011-12 season after posting 22 points through 66 NHL contests that year.

The accolades for Faulk didn’t stop there either as he would compete for Team USA at the World Championships that season and he wound up posting 8 points through 8 games played which was the most points in that event by a U20-aged athlete and he was also named a ‘Top 3 Player on Team USA’.

After just a few seasons in the Carolina organization, Faulk’s leadership both on and off the ice was evident to those around him and he wore an ‘A’ for multiple years with the team and even got to wear the ‘C’ for the Hurricanes in 2017-18. He was even selected to be an NHL All-Star in 2015, 2016 and 2017 while with the Canes.

After nearly a decade in Carolina, Faulk was traded to the St. Louis Blues and subsequently signed a 7-year, $45.5-million dollar deal there. The St. Paul native has now been with the Blues ever since and has made the playoffs in four of his six seasons so far after previously only making the playoffs with Carolina once during his time there (in ‘18-19).

In 2025-26, Faulk is in his 7th season with the Blues and is wearing an ‘A’ for the team for the third season in a row. He is getting close to the 500 career points marker now, currently sitting at 474, and recently skated in his 1000th NHL game on Nov. 18. Faulk is the 138th NHL defenseman (and only the 29th American-born defenseman) to reach the milestone.

For his 1000th game celebration, Faulk’s teammates wore warm-up jerseys with his nickname ‘FLACK’ on the back with the number 1000, and a patch on the shoulder that should read “FAUL1K’ - where the ‘1’ and the ‘K’ were combined to look like 1K.

Faulk is only the second former Minnesota Duluth athlete to compete in 1000 NHL games (Brett Hull is the other), the 11th NTDP alumni to reach the marker, and he is one of only six other current NHL defensemen aged 33 or younger to join the 1K milestone club.

Before becoming a highly-respected NHL defenseman, Faulk originally got his start in hockey after learning to skate at around three years old. During his media availability before his 1000th game, the St. Paul native credited his mother, Gail, and his brother, David, for their support along the way.

“Ultimately, it boils down to my mom. It’s well documented that my father passed away when I was young and she had to raise me and my brother and go through that situation and it’s a lot more for her to handle than it was for us to be honest with you,” he said to the press. “Working multiple jobs and just trying to find ways to support us and give us ultimately everything that she could provide, it taught me how to kind of be resilient in a sense and to work hard and to know that there could be worse days and you can show up to the rink and kind of move on from things … she’s been the backbone of all that and that kind of mindset and attitude hasn’t gone away from me at all.”

Faulk’s mother along with his wife and their three children all got to be on the ice for his home ice 1000 game celebration in St. Louis on Nov. 28.

Throughout his time competing in the sport of hockey, Faulk has achieved many other high-level accomplishments as well, such as becoming Team USA’s youngest athlete on its Olympic roster in 2014 in Sochi, Russia, and winning two bronze medals at the Men’s World Championships.

Even though he has just hit the 1000 career NHL games played marker - he’s not slowly down anytime soon either as he currently has 16 points through 33 games for the Blues this season, which is tied for third on the roster in overall scoring and first among defensemen.

The entire APX family couldn’t be more proud of Faulk and what he has accomplished and what he continues to accomplish every day in his hockey career. To watch some of the 1000 game celebration highlights and some of the top moments of Justin’s career, you can look through the videos and social media posts below.

Congrats, Faulker!