Height: 5-10
Weight: 180
Shoot: L
Born: 1 Dec 1942, Elgin Mills ON
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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 | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
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If Bob Wall is a Little Confused • by Terry Jones • The Hockey Spectator • January 19, 1973
Bob Wall is a 10-year veteran of professional hockey. He's played on National Hockey League clubs in Detroit, Los Angeles and St. Louis. And only in his first season of pro hockey had he previously made an all-star team. Wall is enjoying success with Alberta Oilers this season but should have been properly delighted when he was named to the World Hockey Association Western Division All-Star team. But please excuse Bob Wall for being a little confused. Wall was named the right winger on the second Western Division team or line. "As far as I know, I've been playing defense all year," he said. "I find it a little strange. I'm lost to explain it. All the players had to fill out ballots. Maybe everybody remembers me from the Los Angeles Kings. I played a season on left wing there. It was mainly a checking line. They threw us together to play against all the big lines in the league. I scored 13 goals which made me happy because I certainly don't consider myself a goal scorer." Wall says he doesn't even consider himself an offensive defenseman. "I'm neither an offensive defenseman nor a defensive defenseman. I'm somewhere in between." It's been that kind of a season for Wall. He's found happiness in Edmonton, a city where he played Western League hockey with the Flyers in 1963. At the same time he's found something less than that with the club unable to get out of a two-month slump as the New Year was brought in. "I like it here, It's sort of a relaxed atmosphere for my family for a change. My wife is curling for the first time since she was in high school and my kids have their first chance to play minor hockey. If we could only start winning games again, it would be just about perfect. It's given my kids a chance to be brought up as a Canadian. Heck, until this year, my kids haven't even experienced a Canadian winter." "At this point we all have to concentrate on geting back on track. But once we get rolling again, I'd like to take up curling. I think it's good for a hockey player to have a recreational sport to fool around with and help take the tension off." Wall said his impressive play this season is due largely to his gathering of confidence. "Confidence is a big factor in this game, More than anything else, I think that's what makes Bobby Orr as great as be is. I'm no Bobby Orr, but I'm building some of that confidence up." Oilers headed into 1973 in fifth place after flirting with the lead in the first month of the schedule. "I don't know what happened," said Wall. "We're just not clicking properly. We've got a good strong team here right now, I don't think there is any question of that. We just have to do a little soul-searching and start to put things together. On paper we have a big league defense, as good as any team in the league and beter than some in the NHL, especially when you consider that Doug Barrie is playing forward when he's really a defenseman." "We're getting good goaltending and our defensive record compares favorably with most teams in the league. We just can't seem to score any goals." Such a situation is not entirely new to Wall. He had the honor of playing for Los Angeles Kings during a slump that lasted an entire season. "It was three or four years ago. We set six records that year. Things like most games lost, least goals scored, most scored against. We've got to turn this thing around right now. I don't want to go through another year like that." |
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Excerpts from Zander Hollander's Guide to Pro Hockey, 1973-74 (by Reyn Davis & Charley Hallman)
An outstanding junior player in Hamilton, Wall played six seasons in the NHL with Detroit, Los Angeles, and St. Louis ... Best year for Richmond Hill, Ontario, native was in 1968-69 when he had 13 goals and 13 assists for the Kings ... Can also play left wing ... Twice had ten goals in the minors ... For Alberta, had 16 goals and 29 assists from the left point, including five on the power play and two short-handed markers ... Doesn't take many penalties but is quite effective in front of the net ... Not much of a gambler. |
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