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A Day in the Life of Justin Faulk

By Jessi Pierce, Touchpoint Media, 07/17/15, 11:00AM CDT

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Justin Faulk led all Minnesota-born NHL defensemen in scoring last season, setting career-highs with 15 goals and 34 assists for the Carolina Hurricanes. His 49 points ranked 12th overall in scoring by defensemen throughout the entire NHL. He’s a 2014 U.S. Olympian, NCAA champion at UMD and he scored the gold-medal-winning goal at the 2010 Under-18 World Championship in Belarus.

Not bad for a 23-year-old, eh?

While living on a coast with winters much milder than Minnesota has its perks, Faulk admits that coming back home during the offseason is even more rewarding.

“I think it’s just having fun with all the guys that are around,” Faulk says of his fellow Minnesotan NHLers. “Look at all the NHL players who are from here and they always come back and live here. It makes it that much more fun to come together and hang out. There’s just nothing else quite like calling Minnesota home.”

So what exactly does a 2014 U.S. Olympian do during his summers home? The South St. Paul native let us in on his typical summer day.

7:15 a.m. Early Riser – No sleeping in, not really at all. Most of the time during the week I’m up pretty early no matter the season. On the weekends, I might try to sleep in for an extra hour or two, but generally I like to get my day going and not miss out on too much time.

Once I’m up, I brush my teeth – that’s important to know. Then I make a little breakfast for myself, usually just a couple of eggs, and then I try to head out the door within 30 minutes for a workout.

8:30 a.m. Gym with the Guys – Workouts usually start anywhere between 8:30 and 9 a.m., depending on when the guys show up. There are eight or nine of us, college and pro players, that work out at St. Thomas Ice Arena with the Minnesota Advancement Program (MAP). I’ve been going there since I was 13.

Right now the gym session is pretty intense. We stick with that for about an hour or two. As the season gets closer, things will continue to ramp up to get going for training camp testing and the regular season, but it’s a slow build for sure.

11:30 a.m. On the Ice – If I start at the gym at 8:30, I am done by 10 a.m., and take a rest and get some stretches in before hitting the ice. As we get going, we will start skating more, but right now it’s really just to get some touches in. It’s pretty fun. We have a good group of NHL guys, along with kids that are in MAP, which can include guys in juniors and a bunch of college kids. It’s just fun working out, trying to get better together and also having some fun.

1 p.m. Lunch – Whenever I finish skating I’ll take off and go grab lunch. Typical stop is Whole Foods at the salad bar, that way I can make whatever I want.

2 p.m. Reel in Dinner – When I get the chance, I like to get out on the water and fish. We have a few of us that like to get out and do that as much as we can during the summer. Ideally, if I could, that would be every day, but that’s not possible. We go out for a few hours though and try to catch a few, usually on Lake Minnetonka where a couple of my friends live.

6 p.m. Fire Up the Grill – I’ll come home and fire up the grill most nights. I like to go with steak. Sometimes I’ll toss some vegetables on the grill to go with it. I think you can put anything on the grill and it usually turns out tasting pretty good most of the time.

8 p.m. Tweet Me – After dinner, I’ll go sit up on the couch and try to catch up online. I’ll check my Twitter feed to see what I missed in the day and stay on the computer to look up some news as I start to unwind.

10 p.m. News and Fallon – I usually tune into the 10 o’clock news every night. I feel like I’m getting older just by saying that. One of my favorite shows, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, is on at 10:30 right after, so they just kind of roll into each other. Once I watch those I kind of just call it a day.

A big thanks to Justin for the peek into his summer!

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Justin Faulk led all Minnesota-born NHL defensemen in scoring last season, setting career-highs with 15 goals and 34 assists for the Carolina Hurricanes. His 49 points ranked 12th overall in scoring by defensemen throughout the entire NHL. He’s a 2014 U.S. Olympian, NCAA champion at UMD and he scored the gold-medal-winning goal at the 2010 Under-18 World Championship in Belarus.

Not bad for a 23-year-old, eh?

While living on a coast with winters much milder than Minnesota has its perks, Faulk admits that coming back home during the offseason is even more rewarding.

“I think it’s just having fun with all the guys that are around,” Faulk says of his fellow Minnesotan NHLers. “Look at all the NHL players who are from here and they always come back and live here. It makes it that much more fun to come together and hang out. There’s just nothing else quite like calling Minnesota home.”

So what exactly does a 2014 U.S. Olympian do during his summers home? The South St. Paul native let us in on his typical summer day.

7:15 a.m. Early Riser – No sleeping in, not really at all. Most of the time during the week I’m up pretty early no matter the season. On the weekends, I might try to sleep in for an extra hour or two, but generally I like to get my day going and not miss out on too much time.

Once I’m up, I brush my teeth – that’s important to know. Then I make a little breakfast for myself, usually just a couple of eggs, and then I try to head out the door within 30 minutes for a workout.

8:30 a.m. Gym with the Guys – Workouts usually start anywhere between 8:30 and 9 a.m., depending on when the guys show up. There are eight or nine of us, college and pro players, that work out at St. Thomas Ice Arena with the Minnesota Advancement Program (MAP). I’ve been going there since I was 13.

Right now the gym session is pretty intense. We stick with that for about an hour or two. As the season gets closer, things will continue to ramp up to get going for training camp testing and the regular season, but it’s a slow build for sure.

11:30 a.m. On the Ice – If I start at the gym at 8:30, I am done by 10 a.m., and take a rest and get some stretches in before hitting the ice. As we get going, we will start skating more, but right now it’s really just to get some touches in. It’s pretty fun. We have a good group of NHL guys, along with kids that are in MAP, which can include guys in juniors and a bunch of college kids. It’s just fun working out, trying to get better together and also having some fun.

1 p.m. Lunch – Whenever I finish skating I’ll take off and go grab lunch. Typical stop is Whole Foods at the salad bar, that way I can make whatever I want.

2 p.m. Reel in Dinner – When I get the chance, I like to get out on the water and fish. We have a few of us that like to get out and do that as much as we can during the summer. Ideally, if I could, that would be every day, but that’s not possible. We go out for a few hours though and try to catch a few, usually on Lake Minnetonka where a couple of my friends live.

6 p.m. Fire Up the Grill – I’ll come home and fire up the grill most nights. I like to go with steak. Sometimes I’ll toss some vegetables on the grill to go with it. I think you can put anything on the grill and it usually turns out tasting pretty good most of the time.

8 p.m. Tweet Me – After dinner, I’ll go sit up on the couch and try to catch up online. I’ll check my Twitter feed to see what I missed in the day and stay on the computer to look up some news as I start to unwind.

10 p.m. News and Fallon – I usually tune into the 10 o’clock news every night. I feel like I’m getting older just by saying that. One of my favorite shows, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, is on at 10:30 right after, so they just kind of roll into each other. Once I watch those I kind of just call it a day.

A big thanks to Justin for the peek into his summer!

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