Mitchell Balmas’ goal in the seventh round of the shootout gave the Sheffield Steelers a 3-2 victory over visiting Dynamo Pardubice. The Steelers are also off to the Champions Hockey League Playoffs for the first time ever and the star-studded Pardubice team, surprisingly, is finished.

In a cautiously-played first period, Sheffield had a good chance early with Roman Will reacting quickly to snare Daniel Ciampini’s shot from the point. They didn’t seriously threaten again in the opening period despite two powerplays.

Sheffield opened the scoring in the 25th minute after Pardubice turned over the puck trying to exit their zone. Daniel Leavens picked up the puck at the top of the circle and fed Mikko Juusola, who went off the near-side post and in with a quick shot from the hashmarks.

After killing off a penalty, Pardubice tied it six and a half minutes later. After the puck went deep in the Sheffield zone following a faceoff, Vít Macek passed out front to Daniel Rákos, who fired it under Matthew Greenfield’s outstretched pad.

Pardubice then put on big pressure in an attempt to take the lead, particularly on a powerplay. However, it was the Steelers who would score the go-ahead goal with 4:15 to go in the middle frame, and it came off another turnover. This time it was in the neutral zone, with Balmas skating in and beating Will with a wrist shot over the glove.

Pardubice tied it back up in the first minute of the third period. Tomáš Zohorna was first on the puck from a long pass from Andrej Šustr, which put him in alone on Greentree. Zohorna beat the Sheffield goalie to the blocker side.

The Steelers had Pardubice hemmed in their own zone and under enormous pressure for a lengthy stretch late in the third period but were unable to score.

After a scoreless overtime period, Pardubice twice took the lead in the shootout and Sheffield twice answered until Balmas’ game-ending heroics in round seven sent the fans home happy.