The old Cam Hillis returned to the Sleeman Centre ice Friday night, but it wasn't quite enough for the Guelph Storm.
The Storm forward, who had just four points in 12 games coming into the game, had three assists and was the best Storm player against the Erie Otters.
But that wasn't enough, as the Storm blew a two-goal lead in the third period before losing 5-4 in overtime.
"It's been kind of a similar start to last year," HIllis said of the slow early going.
"I think it comes back to why I play the game, that's because I like to have fun with it, and think in that mindset and take it from there," said the Montreal Canadiens draft pick, who had 59 points in 60 games last season.
Hillis's solid play wasn't limited to his work with the puck. He had a very strong night in a defensive role and also won 14 of the 18 face offs he took.
"I've had conversations with Montreal. They see the offensive side and the upside, but they want me to be keen and strong defensively, so that's definitely something I'm taking pride in this year."
His strong night was also noticed by Storm coach George Burnett.
"He played with a lot of energy, no doubt about it, and he has to play that way if he's going to be successful," Burnett said.
"He had some opportunities tonight, which was nice to see, but if you spoke to him I'm sure he wouldn't be happy with the outcome."
The Storm led 3-0 at one point Friday night before the Otters chipped away to make it 3-2 after 40 minutes.
Isaac Ratcliffe's goal 1:01 into the third period put the Storm up 4-2 and it looked like the Otters were going to remain winless on the road so far this season.
But Chad Yetman's third of the night on the power play and then a seeing-eye shot from the point by Kurtis Henry with 8:45 left in regulation tied it, setting up overtime.
With the tired Storm trio of Hillis, Ratcliffe and Owen Lalonde unable to get off the ice, and with Hillis having lost an edge on his skate, Erie's Kyle Maksimovich won it at 3:10 of overtime with a high wrister over Anthony Popovich's glove.
The play was reviewed for a potential offside, but ruled good.
"It wasn't just the last shift. We make it 4-2, then it's a comedy of errors from bad penalties to lost battles to odd-man situations and I'm not sure we got a big save at the end when we needed it as well," Burnett said.
"You can't point the finger at it at any one guy and it won't change unless there's a commitment from our top guys in particular to manage the puck more effectively and hang on to the puck a lot longer in the offensive zone.
"We want to play like the Globetrotters and we paid a price for it tonight."
It doesn't get any easier for the Storm, who host the Western Conference's top team, the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, on Sunday afternoon.
Guelph has lost 20 straight games against the Hounds.
