Height: 6-0
Weight: 195
Shoot: L
Born: 1 Jan 1946, Stettler AB
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1972-73 | Alberta | |||||||||||
| 1973-74 | Edmonton | |||||||||||
| 1974-75 | San Diego | |||||||||||
| 1975-76 | San Diego | |||||||||||
| 1976-77 | San Diego | |||||||||||
| 1977-78 | Edmonton | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
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Nobody Notices Bob Falkenberg • by Terry Jones • The Hockey Spectator • March 30, 1973
The thing you notice most about Bob Falkenberg is you don't notice him. That's the way it's been all through his career in hockey. And that's the way it is in his most recent employment with the Alberta Oilers. Bob Falkenberg is like a referee. If you don't notice him, he is doing his job. He's a study and steadiness. You don't often see him embarrassed defensively. At the same time, Bob Falkenberg hasn't made any of those Bobby Orr rushes up the ice. Despite his offensive shyness, Falkenberg, in the first 68 games of the World Hockey Association schedule, managed to score 6 goals and add 23 assists. Falkenberg, who played his junior hockey with Edmonton Oil Kings, was reunited with former Oil King defense partner Al Hamilton, more recently of the Buffalo Sabres. "I played Hamilton with Falkenberg in junior hockey and I did it again with the Oilers," said recently-replaced coach Ray Kinasewich, who won a Memorial Cup with the two. Falconberg is steady; Hamilton knows that. So when the opportunity comes, Hamilton will be able to go with the puck. Hamilton and Falkenberg were always compared in junior hockey. And the comparisons have never really stopped. In the spring of 1967 Edmonton Journal sports columnist Wayne Overland wrote: "When both were Oil King defensemen, Falkenberg was undoubtedly the better hockey player of the two. But Hamilton got most of the attention. The reason goes back to their style of play. Falkenberg is a model of consistency and dependability, while Hamilton was somewhat lacking in both qualities. But Hamilton was always capable of the spectacular, whether it be good or bad, and it always grabbed the headlines." Some see Falkenberg's pro career as a disappointment. In his four years of junior hockey, he played on two national championship teams. He was the team captain for two seasons. At 6-0 and 195 pounds, he has the size. The quiet, solid team man was popular with fans, management, coaches, and teammates. Falkenberg was a member of the Detroit Red Wings organization most of his career, and did see some National Hockey League service, but never for prolonged periods. "The biggest thing in going from junior to pro is to realize that hockey is no longer a game. You have to mature and realize this is your living and a way of life. In junior you can play one good game, three bad ones. In pro you have to play well almost every game or you're gone. I guess it took me about three years to learn that." Falkenberg believes a bad attitude cost him his best chance to stick in the NHL. "They called me up from the minors one season with 16 games remaining, and I really played well. I thought I had it made. I went to Florida after the schedule and didn't work out all summer. I went to training camp overweight and blew my chance." Falkenberg is one of the many success stories the WHA is responsible for producing in its first season. He was given a new lease on life and responded. "I made all the stops in those six years," he said. "Cleveland, Tidewater, Pittsburgh, Fort Worth ... I got so tired of packing and leaving." He was home. "Am I ever happy for this chance?" he said the day he signed. "It couldn't be better. I've got to make good now." |
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