Winnipeg Jets fans take creativity to next level with wacky, weird Game 4 costumes

If "This is Winnipeg," as so many Jets fans' shirts proclaim, the Prairie city is a wacky, creative and stormtrooper-filled place.

Wild costumes dotted the crowd as more than 15,000 fans donned white and crowded into several blocks of downtown Winnipeg on Thursday night to take in Game 4 of the Jets-Predators second-round series on big screens at the Whiteout Street Party.

Well, most of them wore white.

"I'm Batman," Oliver Queen said in his best low, gruff Christian Bale Batman impersonation. "Except for the shirt this is just pretty much what I usually wear."

The Predators downed the Jets 2-1 and will head back home to Nashville for Game 5 on Saturday against Winnipeg.

Before the disappointing loss, many of those thousands of Jets fans put on their painted game faces and creative costumes — from a living puck to multiple Star Wars lovers and more.

Some travelled far from city limits to get in on the magic.

Jolene and Brandon Banga drove more than 325 kilometres from their hometown of Moosomin, Sask., to get rowdy with the Winnipeg whiteout crowd.

"We drove three hours to get here, so we talked about it along the way. We planned it out," Brandon Banga said. "We were Jets fans when we were younger, and then they came back."

The ghostly face paint came from a local craft store, Jolene Banga said.

Blues artist B.B. King dubbed his favourite guitar Lucille, and leather-jacketed Jets fan/living billboard Christopher Hawkins borrowed the moniker for his lit-up bat.

He also put together a massive cardboard Jets sign that he strapped to his back.

The costume took six hours to build.

"No sleep yesterday until this morning," he said. "Only problem is some of the security is a little disappointed with how big I am, but hey, the bigger the better."

Others, like Boba Jet, put less time into their costumes.

"My costume was assembled 10 minutes before we left the house," he said in his Star Wars-themed Boba Fett warrior costume. "This is the time to be a Winnipeg Jets fan."

Thomas Graban has attended three whiteout parties this playoff season. On Tuesday he showed up as the Grim Reaper, and on Thursday, Graban was decked out in a metallic, Terminator-like costume with the word Destroy running across his torso.

He and his dad watched the team play for years starting in the 1980s.

"My dad waited for them to get this far and he passed away, and now I am carrying it on," said Graban.

As for his vote for the best whiteout costume?

"There are so many. Everybody is creative," Graban said. "Wait until you see me next time!"

The Jets and Predators face off in Game 5 Friday in Nashville.

• More on the Winnipeg Jets playoff run