The Montreal Impact won the innagural Canadian club championship in 2008. (Graham Hughes/Canadian Press)

It was an improbable run that captured the imagination of soccer fans across Canada.

Now, the Montreal Impact are gearing up to try to do it again.

The Impact begin defence of their Canadian club championship title Wednesday night when they visit Toronto FC and will be looking to start the competition on the right foot after getting off to a slow start to their season.

While Toronto FC, Canada's lone Major League Soccer club, is undefeated (3-0-2) in its last five games, the Impact, who compete in the USL First Division (one level below MLS), are winless in their last four contests.

Montreal is coming off a 2-1 loss to the Rochester Rhinos on Saturday in its home opener, but coach John Limniatis believes his team is better than its poor record indicates.

"We have to do better and rebound from last game. We realize that we could be playing better but the pace is there," Limniatis told the Impact's official website.

"We have the chance to show that we are a good team. We have the opportunity to do again great things in that competition. If we work hard, we will get a positive result. It's a different competition, but a good result could help us for the upcoming games in the USL."

Montreal midfielder Rocco Placentino echoed his coach's sentiments.

"It would be great to kick off the tournament with a good result [in Toronto]," said Placentino. "We will try to defend our crown but we know it will be tough. Even though we did not get the results we wanted in the last games, we are going there with confidence. We want to win the cup again."

Montreal won last year's tournament with a 1-1 tie against Toronto at BMO Field in July, so the Impact are far from intimidated.

Impact defender Stefano Pesoli and midfielders Patrick Leduc and Leonardo Di Lorenzo did not travel to Toronto due to injuries.

Veteran midfielder Sandro Grande has returned to the club after being suspended for a week for undisclosed reasons, and could be in the starting lineup Wednesday night.

Toronto leads the round-robin standings with three points after defeating the Vancouver Whitecaps 1-0 at home last week in the opening game of the tournament.

A win against Montreal would put the MLS club in a prime position to win the competition.

"The main thing is going out there [Wednesday] night, taking care of business and letting the ball talk and not the mouths," midfielder Dwayne De Rosario told Toronto FC's website.

"Hopefully we do that again this week and get the six points from two home games and then get some away wins as well."

Midfielder Carl Robinson sat out Toronto's 3-3 tie against DC United on Saturday due to food poisoning, but coach Chris Cummins said the Welshman should be ready to play against the Impact.

The Canadian club championship continues next Wednesday when Montreal hosts Vancouver.