"It was amazing. I've never experienced anything like that before," Ehlers recalled with a smile a few quick blinks. "Everything about it…crazy. And now I get to be in the middle of it, on the ice (Wednesday), I can't wait. None of us can."

Just thinking about what he saw (and felt) from the press box that night still gives him goosebumps.

The Jets recalled Ehlers - the ninth pick in the 2014 Draft - on the morning of Game 4 after his junior season came to an end with the QMJHL's Halifax Mooseheads. He was brought in to observe, to experience the pace, the speed and physicality of playoff hockey at the NHL level before becoming a pro full-time in the fall.

Growing up across the pond long after the original Jets made their emotional move to the desert, Nikolaj Ehlers never heard of the Whiteout. But in the spring of 2015, and with the crew back in the playoffs for the first time in nearly two decades, he got a crash course on what makes Winnipeg one of the world's greatest hockey cities.

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Ehlers and the rest of his teammates have spent the past two days honing their craft with a pair of intense and altogether refreshing 30-minute practices west of their rumbling downtown sanctuary.

After clinching their Stanley Cup playoff berth more than two weeks ago and putting the finishing touches on a franchise-best, 114-point campaign over weekend, the excitement is palpable.

The attention to detail spearheaded by Paul Maurice, the pace and passion with which all 23 skaters and both goaltenders have used to properly tune their game over the past 48 hours, and everything in between is all the evidence you need.

They're ready to go.

"We haven't had a real practice in a long time," Ehlers said. "This? This is what it's all about. Practice is fun right now, but we also know we have a job to do. That's what you've seen these past two days. We're enjoying it, but we're focused, too.

"The goal every year is to make the playoffs. … When I came in, we had a really young team and knew it wasn't going to be easy. Looking back, I think we've done what we needed to do to get better as a team. The younger players have gotten some experience, the older players have helped, and we've got a great team in here. We're excited for this. We've been waiting two years for this. We're ready."

Before going to Halifax, Ehlers played his youth hockey in Switzerland and made his pro debut when he was only 16 with EHC Biel of the Swiss National League during the 2012-13 season. He was youngest player in the league in the time and appeared in only 11 games with the senior team that year, but in that short time, had the opportunity to visit some of the great rinks in all Europe.

Looking back now it doesn't come close to Winnipeg, he says, but the atmosphere in those cozy arenas left a lasting impression.

"Halifax was pretty amazing - in the playoffs, especially, with 10,000 fans packing the building," Ehlers said. "The best I've seen, before coming to Winnipeg, was probably my second or third game in the (Swiss) pro league when we played in Bern in front of 17,000 people. As a 16-year-old, that's pretty incredible."

While some players try not to get caught up in the volume, Ehlers is just the opposite.

It drives him.

"The fans here are incredible every single night. For me, it would be so intimidating to come into this building and play against a crowd like we have.

"We're all really excited, but it's important to use that energy the right way. We worked all year to get home ice, so it's important we use it to our advantage every chance we get."

- Ryan Dittrick, WinnipegJets.com