NORM ULLMAN - QUICK OFF THE DRAW

Although he never won a Stanley Cup, Norm Ullman had a magical playoff game in the spring of 1965 against the Chicago Black Hawks.

The game in question took place on April 11, 1965, in Detroit at the Olympia.

Going into game five, the Red Wings and Black Hawks split the first four games of the best-of-seven semi-final series. Winning game five is considered vital and in weather terms is usually hotly contested.

As one journalist wrote: "While the worst storm in years raged outside the jammed (15,002) Olympia, Ullman who had been inconspicuous during the Wings' two losses at Chicago last week, suddenly whipped up a tornado of his own in the hot, humid atmosphere within the building."

Ullman began his turbulent attack on Chicago in the second period. The Wings trailed the Hawks by a score of 2-1, when Ullman went to work at the 17:35 mark. His first goal of the game was described in the newspaper the next day: "[Ullman] grabbed Bill Gadsby's pass and blasted a 45-footer past Elmer Vasko, low to Hall's right."

Bill Gadsby, in his 19th NHL campaign, was a defenceman with the Red Wings. In voting for the All-Stars, Gadsby made the Second All-Star Team alongside Toronto's Carl Brewer. Elmer Vasko was Chicago's brawny defenceman who used his physical prowess to stop the opposition. Glenn Hall manned Chicago's net and was a Stanley Cup champion in 1961.

With one shot already successfully fired, Ullman was quick off the draw when the puck was dropped to resume play.

Again, we go the newspaper text for what happened next: "After out-drawing Hay [Bill] he took about a half dozen strides, and caught Hall totally unprepared for the shot which went by defenceman Matt Ravelich [and] Hall fanned."

Another paper detailed the goal: "Norm poked the puck through Hay's feet, dipped past and raced in on Matt Ravlich. When the defenceman moved across to check him, Ullman fired the puck past a shell-shocked Hall on the short side."

In the blink of an eye, Norm Ullman entered the NHL record book for the fastest two goals - 5 seconds - scored by one player in the playoffs. His second tally came at 17:40.

Ullman scored a shorthanded goal in the third period to complete the hat trick. The Wings won the game 4-2.

Bill Hay, the lanky Chicago center Ullman beat on the faceoff, had set the previous mark for the fastest two goals in the 1964 playoffs. In game two of the semi-finals against Detroit, he scored two goals 47 seconds apart in the middle frame. His victim was rookie Bob Champoux, who replaced an injured Terry Sawchuk in the first period. To make the story even more interesting, Ullman, like in his own record breaking game, bagged a hat trick to help his club edge Chicago 5-4.

In his own words, Ullman dissected the two goals. "I think Hall was screened a little on both goals," said Ullman in his usual humble way. "I was able to scoot past the defenceman on both. The first went between Pilote and Vasko. On the second, Pavlich moved across in front of me just as the puck cleared my stick."