Canadian Anthem Singer Mark Donnelly Takes on-Ice Spill

— -- Ice hockey viewers used to seeing skaters fall during the game got a sneak peak Friday night when the national anthem singer fell on the ice before the first puck was ever thrown.

Anthem singer Mark Donnelly, 54, was belting out “O Canada” while skating around the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton, British Columbia, when he failed to notice a red carpet laid out on the ice.

Just a few chords in to Canada’s national anthem, Donnelly, a professional singer for more than 20 years, face-planted onto the ice and then had to catch himself from falling again as he scrambled to get back on his two feet.

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“There was a ceremonial face-off beforehand and the carpet was supposed to have been taken up,” Donnelly told ABC News today. “On the video, it looks much brighter than it is -- but on the ice it’s quite dark.”

“I didn’t even see the carpet until I’d skated around the team and come around the other side to see what I’d tripped on,” he said. “That’s what I was thinking about while I kept singing: ‘What the heck did I trip on?’”

Donnelly had reason to be confused by his fall. He has been skating since the age of 10 and has sung the Canadian national anthem while on skates nearly 40 times before without ever falling.

The father of nine earned the nickname, "Mr. O Canada," as the national anthem singer for the Vancouver Canucks for more than a decade. He traveled to Penticton Friday to sing for the home opener of the Penticton Vees, a junior team in the British Columbia Hockey League.

“I’m sure I’m going to be getting a few offers of skating lessons,” joked Donnelly, who suffered a sore left knee but was otherwise uninjured.

As to how and why he was able to keep singing without missing a beat, Donnelly said he applied a lesson from another part of his life.

“I recently lost half my body weight and I give presentations on goal setting and perseverance, so I guess I kind of applied my own advice to that by keeping on,” said Donnelly, who went from 370 pounds to around 180 pounds in two years.

“You just keep going,” he said.