They live all over the continent now, but a small part of them remains in Winnipeg.

And when the reincarnation of their old team finally made it back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they couldn't help but feel the pull.

“I watched every second,” former Winnipeg Jet Morris Lukowich was saying on Thursday. “It was amazing. Tremendous.”

Lukowich is one of a handful of old Jets in town for a charity hockey event this weekend.

He joined Dave Babych, Laurie Boschman and Dave Ellett for a quick autograph session at Joe Daley's sports card and memorabilia shop in St. Vital, Thursday afternoon.

But as thrilled as Lukowich was to see the Jets back in the post-season, there's one thing he didn't like: the whiteout.

The product of Speers, Sask., who lives in Calgary now, says the Jets marketing department blew it, going so far as to say the decision to resurrect the tradition was a factor in the Jets' four-game sweep at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks.

“Our guys were wearing dark blue,” Lukowich said. “I just thought that was a mistake.”

The four-time NHL 30-goal scorer would have preferred a blue-out.

“Yeah. And then blow 'em out,” Lukowich said. “At playoff time sometimes it's such a fine line between winning and losing. And everything needs to be used.. and I just couldn't see how you had six guys in dark blue against an entire white crowd. Plus Anaheim was wearing white. I thought it was just foolish.

“Psychologically I'd feel like it was us against everybody. Anaheim was wearing white, they won both games.”

It's all about psychology, Lukowich said.

“If you're playing an entire arena of dark jerseys, you're going to be intimidated. Intimidation is a big piece of playoffs. So screw that whiteout. That's what I say.”

Other than that little rant, it was all chuckles and back-slaps at Daley's place, the gang sharing stories going back to the Jets of the old World Hockey Association.

Fans came by with some unique trinkets for the players to sign.

One, 45-year-old Len Thompson, brought a blue seat from the old Winnipeg Arena.

A friend had bought the seat right off the garbage truck for $5, back when the building was being demolished.

Thompson had just come from another gathering in another part of town, where his mother picked up a souvenir of a different sort from Bobby Hull.

“He kissed my mom's hand,” Thompson said.

Another fan had a different piece of the old rink with him: the steel 'W' from the name on the front of the building.

“There were 15,000 seats, but there's only one 'W',” Jeff said.

In a line of work where you don't want your full name in the paper, Jeff was sitting in the upper deck of the stadium during the arena demolition days when he told his wife he wanted that 'W.'

The next day, she called the wrecking company and they said they'd set it aside. Jeff picked it up for nothing.

Today it's got the signatures of former players and Winnipeg rockers Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman on it.

“These guys all take pictures of it when they find out what it is,” Jeff said.

Ellett said he'd look up at that 'W' all the time as he'd arrive at the arena.

“Every time you drove to a game you'd check which way the flags were going,” the ex-defenceman said. “So you'd park the back end of your car into the wind.”

Ellett, who lives in Phoenix, was disappointed to see the Jets blown out of the playoffs, but figures just getting there was a great learning experience.

Watching from down in Arizona brought back memories of the original whiteout for the Ohio native.

“I remember the first time,” Ellett said. “None of us knew what to expect that first game against Calgary. You walked out the tunnel and all you saw was white. And loud. It was astonishing. I'd never experienced anything like that.”

Unlike Lukowich, he's all for seeing it continue.

“Winnipeg and white – it all started here,” Ellett said.