St. Cloud Cathedral sophomore defenseman Jon Bell skated slowly and cautiously to the blue line during pregame introductions ahead of Saturday's Class 1A championship game against Greenway.

With Bell's top speed approaching 1 or 2 miles per hour, he made a deliberate and successful stop. The Crusaders' student section roared in approval.

Why such a big deal?

A day earlier during the semifinals, Bell tripped and fell (bottom video) during a much more bold and speedy approach to the blue line, skidding past his teammates and the awaiting TV cameraman like a rogue bobsledder.

"Yeah, I did not see that coming at all," Bell said on Friday after being told he was trending on social media.

Bell joins an exclusive fraternity. In the last decade, the only other similar mishap (video at top) is believed to belong to Alexandria's Zach Van Orsdel, who took a tumble during introductions in 2010. The moment was uploaded to YouTube with the headline, "*HILARIOUS FAIL!* MN Hockey Tourney."

Hilarious fail? We prefer to see it the same as the good-natured Bell, who had his blades swapped out during Friday's victory over East Grand Forks because of continued problems with his edges. Bell never mentioned his skate issues when asked about his 15-minutes-of-fame moment.

"You know, it happens," he said.

White Bear Lake Lake's Tom Kleidon crashed and burned during introductions in 2005. No doubt there have been others. This is one statistic that isn't tracked.

"Sometimes," Bell said in summary, "you fall."