I have a confession to make.

And trust me, I’m gritting my teeth as I pound this out on the keyboard. After more than 30 years of rooting against the Montreal Canadiens, I must admit that I now find myself in the bewildering—and somewhat uncomfortable—position of pulling for the only Canadian entry still alive in these National Hockey League playoffs.

Growing up, my older brother absolutely adored everything about Les Habitants: he had the jersey, the pyjamas, the bed sheets, and I seem to recall him carting a Canadiens lunch kit to school, too. To this day, no one is really sure where his love for the Habs began. He was born in Waterloo, Ontario, and raised from a young age in North Vancouver, so there were no obvious ties to the guys in blue, white, and red. All I knew was that if my older brother liked them, I felt it my duty—in the interest of a solid sibling rivalry—to throw my support behind whomever the Canadiens were playing on any given night. Unfortunately for me, this was the mid to late 1970s, and the Habs refused to lose. And so as they rattled off four straight Stanley Cups to close out the decade, the Canadiens’ legend, my brother’s smugness, and my disdain for his favourite hockey team all grew at the same alarming rate.

I had to endure more in my teen years, when the Habs won again in 1986, and even into my early adult years I couldn’t escape it when Montreal won in 1993.

It has not been easy. All those years, all those Stanley Cups, all of my brother’s gloating, and, worst of all, the heaps of emotional hockey baggage I’ve been saddled with. Which is why what’s happening now has caught me completely off-guard and leaves me more than a little confused and conflicted.

I don’t know if I’m ready to pledge my full support to this year’s version of the Montreal Canadiens, and I’m really unsure if I’m ready to see them win the Stanley Cup again. But I do know that something strange is going on, and my loyalty seems to be shifting.

This year’s Canadiens have been one of the feel-good stories in hockey: a team picked by many prior to the season to miss the playoffs for a second straight year instead went out and won 47 games and finished first in the NHL’s Eastern Conference. Prior to the season, had you asked Vancouver Canucks fans if they would have been willing to make a straight swap of the Canucks roster for the Habs lineup, you would have been laughed at. Now Canucks fans can only wish their team had had the kind of season that Montreal fans enjoyed and are still enjoying.

Aside from Alex Kovalev and Saku Koivu, there aren’t many big names on the Canadiens. Aside from Andrei Markov ($5.75 million) and Roman Hamrlik ($5.5 million), there aren’t many big salaries on the hockey team. And judging from this distance, there doesn’t appear to be any big egos on the club. The Canadiens skate well and play up-tempo hockey; and they’re not all about getting the first goal of the game and then trying to nurse that to a 1-0 victory.

And perhaps more than anything, they look like they’re having fun. And why wouldn’t they? They bounced Boston from the playoffs in the opening round and are now fighting with Philadelphia for a spot in the eastern final—a place they haven’t been in 15 years.

What makes this version of the Habs even more compelling is that they’re trying to buck virtually every widely held belief about what’s necessary to win at this time of the year. Listen to enough so-called experts and they’ll tell you teams that go far in the playoffs are supposed to have veteran goaltending, a big, strong defence, and a forward group comprised of nothing but North Americans who’d be willing to chew through barbed wire to get their hands on the cup.

Instead, the Habs are riding a red-hot rookie netminder in Carey Price, they have an unheralded and, at times, undersized defence corps, and up front they’re being led by plucky captain Koivu and the enigmatic Kovalev. Those two are getting plenty of scoring help from fellow Europeans like Tomas Plekanec and the Kostitsyn brothers, Andrei and Sergei.

Add to that mix gritty role players like Tom Kostopoulos, Steve Begin, and Mike Komisarek, and the Habs appear to have all the parts necessary to contend for the Stanley Cup.

On top of all that, this is a hockey club that has been assembled by the legendary Bob Gainey and is coached by Guy Carbonneau. Despite the significant contributions that both of those men made to past Canadiens championships—and, in turn, to my childhood angst—who in their right mind can hold a grudge against Bob Gainey and Guy Carbonneau? You’d be hard-pressed to find two guys who played the game with more honour and integrity.

Those two have clearly put their stamp on this year’s hockey club, which has proven time and time again this season that it’s tough to beat. What I’m learning now is that this version of the Montreal Canadiens is also tough to dislike. And, oh, how it pains me to have to say that.

Will the Habs win the Stanley Cup? It remains a relative long shot, with teams like Pittsburgh and Detroit still standing in their way. And that’s only if they can finish off Philadelphia. But the possibility certainly exists, and, as such, I’ve been forced to do some serious soul-searching.

Now it’s an outcome I’m not only prepared for but also at peace with. Honestly, I didn’t ever think that day would come.

Go, Habs, go (sort of).