BARRIE, Ontario – The Erie Otters will begin 2012 with a three-game losing streak.

Barrie scored twice in the third period to snap a tie and hand the Otters a 5-3 loss in front of a New Year’s Eve crowd of 4,276 at Barrie Molson Centre.

Colin Behenna’s goal 9 minutes, 11 seconds into the third handed the Colts (21-13-2-1) a 4-3 lead. Eric Locke’s goal with 7:45 left extended the lead to 5-3.

Barrie then stymied the Otters (5-30-1-1) on two late power plays to seal Erie’s fate. The teams traded goals in the first period, with Barrie’s Dylan Smoskowitz and Erie’s Greg McKegg scoring in the first five minutes. The Colts took a 2-1 on Alex Lepkowski’s goal 1:37 into the second period.

But the Otters turned that one-goal deficit into a 3-2 lead on Travis Wood’s goal at the 8:47 mark and Connor Brown’s team-leading 14^th goal of the season with 6:02 left in the period. Yet the Colts tied the score at 3 with the man advantage, as Reid McNeill scored with 3:38 left in the period. Barrie then took the control in the third on the strength of an 18-9 shot advantage. Barrie outshot the Otters 46-29.

Tyson Teichmann stopped 41-of-46 shots for the Otters. Brown finished with a goal and assist while Mike Cazzola had two assists. Daniel Erlich paced the Colts with four assists. The Otters return to action next weekend with games at Tullio Arena against Sarnia on Friday and Kitchener on Saturday.

SUMMARY

Colts 5, Otters 3

Erie  1  2  0  —  3

Barrie  1  2  2  —  5

1^st Period — 1. Barrie, Dylan Smoskowitz 3 (Erlich, Buonomo), 1:23. 2. Erie, Greg McKegg 12 (Cazzola, Brown), 4:24. Penalties — Cairns (E) holding, 9:53; Evans (E) hooking, 12:23; Bradford (B) hooking, 14:36.

2^nd Period — 3. Barrie, Alex Lepkowski 5 (Buonomo), 1:37. 4. Erie, Travis Wood 6 (Cook, Betz), 8:47. 5. Erie, Connor Brown 14 (Pelech, Cazzola), 13:58. 6. Barrie, Reid McNeill 2 (Erlich, Bradford), 16:22 (pp). Penalties — Bell (B) slashing, 1:50; Erie, too many men (served by McKegg), 16:07; Locke (B) interference, 17:43; Cook (E) hooking, 18:32.

3^rd Period — 7. Barrie, Colin Behenna 14 (Erlich, Hall), 9:11. 8. Barrie, Eric Locke 7 (Beyers, Erlich), 12:15. Penalties — Grant (E) cross checking, 4:10; Cook (E) roughing, 4:29; Locke (B) slashing, 15:44; Lepkowski (B) holding, 18:31; Cazzola (E) roughing, 20:00; Buonomo (B) roughing, 20:00.

Shots on goal — Erie, 5-15-9—29; Barrie, 8-20-18—46.

Goaltenders — Erie, Tyson Teichmann 1-15-0-0 (46 shots, 41 saves); Barrie, Mathias Niederberger 13-81-0 (29 shots, 27 saves).

Power plays — Erie (0-5), Barrie (1-6).

Referees — Korey Bannerman, Scott Oakman. Linesmen — Ryan Wilson, Mike Zujko.

Attendance — 4,276.

Three stars

* Daniel Erlich, Colts (4 assists) ** Reid McNeill, Colts (goal) *** Connor Brown, Otters (goal, assist)