The incidence of adverse cardiovascular events is higher among spectators of exciting sports events, but the mechanistic link between the events is not known. We assessed the heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) dynamics of enthusiastic male ice hockey spectators (60±9years) with coronary artery disease (CAD) during Finnish national league ice hockey play-off final matches. Twenty-four-hour ambulatory ECG (n=55) and BP (n=17) were recorded at the time of the match and on a control day. Beat-to-beat R-R intervals and BP were recorded during the match and a bicycle exercise at equal HR levels (n=21). Systolic and diastolic BP were significantly higher 1h before, during, and 1h after the match than on the control day, e.g., the highest systolic BP was 180±14 vs. 145±15 and diastolic 103±13 vs. 82±11mmHg (p