Help With Hockey Shots

[tanyarae]

I am having troubles getting any good hockey action shots. I have posted one here as a sample. I know the WB is off in this image. I am using a Nikon D700 at 2.8 70-200 lens, SS 400 (would like to use faster), ISO I believe was 3200 or higher. I have very low lighting conditions. Anyone have any tips!

[tanyarae]

Here is one that is slightly better but not much.

[DHMN69]

I personally think the second one is a lot better, as far as WB and the jerseys go. If the first one was cropped to show the skater with the puck alone and had the better color of the second shot it'd make for a decent 'stock' shot of that player. Maybe an 'auto-levels' or at least contrast, could bring it to the level of the second one. They'd both still would require minor noise reduction depending on their final usage. I'm only guessing but I think you could at least go to 1/500 SS judging from the two you showed.

It's hard when you have to deal with crazy old cycling lights in arenas. I can get almost perfect jersey colors yet have 3 different shades of ice in a 3 shot burst.