SteelStats: Joe Faust

Joe Faust’s first season in Idaho was one for the ages, as the 2010 New Jersey Devils draft pick put up some offensive numbers from the blue line matched only by a select few in Idaho’s ECHL era. Faust’s performance ranks with the likes of Hay, Vandermeer, and Bourassa, and it was just his first impression.

Let’s take a deeper look at the numbers for Smokin’ Joe:

36 – Joe Faust had a combined 36 points through four years of college hockey at the University of Wisconsin and two years of pro split between AHL Albany and the Adirondack Thunder. Faust blew those totals out of the water with 41 points in 2016-17, nearly tripling his previous single-season best of 14 set during his senior year in Wisconsin.

14 – Joe Faust kept Steelheads fans in suspense during the season’s final month, but in the final period of the regular season he would set a new Steelheads mark. His 14th goal of the year broke Jarad Bourassa’s 11 year-old record for goals in an ECHL season by a Steelheads defenseman. Nine of those goals came at even-strength.

17 – While he was among the league’s best offensive defenseman at 5-on-5, Faust also made a bigger impact on the power play than at any other time in his career. Faust finished the season with 17 power play assists, the sixth most in the ECHL and the fourth-most in the Western Conference behind David Makowski of Allen and the combo of Matt Register and Jake Marto in Colorado.

6 – If longtime Steelheads fans were to purchase a #6 jersey, whose name would they put on the back of it? A strong argument can certainly be made for Faust after his 41 point campaign. Prior to Faust, 14 players had worn #6 for Idaho during the ECHL era for a combined 275 games in 13 seasons, also combining for just 75 points. Six different players wore the number from 2005-07, and three players during the 2009-10 campaign. Riley Weselowski wore it the longest, 54 games in 2008-09. The good news for Faust is that three players wearing #6 for Idaho went on to play in the NHL – Luke Gazdic, Justin Johnson, and Greg Rallo. To truly be the number-one #6 in Steelheads hearts, however, Faust may have more work to do. Scott Swanson wore #6 during the WCHL era, putting up 100 points for Idaho across two seasons from 2001-03.

4 – Faust is in exclusive company with his 40-point season. Only four Steelheads defensemen in the ECHL era- Faust, Darrel Hay, Dan Vandermeer, and David Cornacchia- have surpassed the 40-point mark. Faust, Bourassa (2005-06), and Hay (2003-04) are also the only three Steelheads blue-liners with 10+ goals and 30+ points in the same season during the ECHL era.

1/234 – Faust served as the bookends for Steelheads scoring this season, netting Idaho’s first and final goals of the season. Faust got Idaho on the board during the season-opener in Utah with a shot past goaltender Kevin Boyle at 3:16 of the third period in a 4-1 Idaho loss. He finished the season with a goal against Aces goaltender Kevin Carr in Alaska with 13:22 to go, also the last goal scored by a Steelhead in Anchorage.

3 – Throughout the entire season, Faust never went more than three games without recording a point. He also recorded points streaks of three games or more on three separate occasions.