Shooting HS Hockey tommorow, tips?

So I'm going to a family friend's, daughter's HS hockey game tomorrow. It's indoors, so I'm guessing the light is going to be ****.

Equipment I have is:
40D w/ Grip
580 EX II
Tamron 28-75 2.8 XR DI ABCDEFG...
Canon 50 1.8
Canon 85 1.8
Canon 70-200 f4L

I've shot some indoor sports before, (volleyball in an absolute **** gym) but wasn't really that happy with the results. I guess I'm looking for some tips.

I'm guessing that I'll be shooting at between 800-1600 (probably 1250-1600) all day to keep a decent shutter. How fast of a shutter do you think I'll need to freeze action in HS hockey? I'm guessing I'll be probally using my 85 1.8 the most tommorow, and no flash. I don't know what the access will be like, we'll see.

So any tips? Suggestions? Ect?

Okay, I just went and saw the like 9 other posts about hockey, and read them. Pretty much what I thought, I just have to hope the light is good enough to give me a good speed @ f4 to keep around a 1/500th speed.

Here's a question I haven't seen discussed. What about Highlight Tone Priority ect? That will increase the noise won't it? No reason to have that on is there?

Highlight Tone Priority will disable ISO 3200, which you might just need if shooting at f/4.

Well, I just got done shooting, and while my shooting position was pretty good (by the players, on the edge of the glass) the lighting was terrible. I had to shoot about a stop, to 1 1/2 stops underexposed to get a 1/500th shutter, and even that wasn't freezing the action all the way.

I was shooting 3200 (stop to stop and a half underexposed), 70-200 f4 @ f4, and 1/500th. Results were maybe one keeper per 50 or 75 shots. I was having a hard time focusing in AI Focus using center point only, and found myself limited by how wide the 70 on the 70-200 was.

So then I tried my 580 EX II. I dialed to around 1000-1600 ISO, f4, E-TTL +2/3, HHS, and 1/500th. I was having some problems with my flash not reaching the far end of of the rink which is why I was trying to get as much ambient as I could with the high ISO and wide appeture. Did I do it right, or should I have gone with a larger apeture and kept the SS at 1/250th and below and relied on the strobe to freeze the action? I didn't really try because I figured that I'd have troubles with the reach of my flash.

I'll get some pics up later to show what I'm talking about, and get some C&C. But in the meantime, any input or tips on my shooting?

MSIGuy wrote in post #6918924
So then I tried my 580 EX II. I dialed to around 1000-1600 ISO, f4, E-TTL +2/3, HHS, and 1/500th.

Your sync-speed is 1/250. HSS is not what you want to use for stopping action.

http://webs.lanset.com​/rcochran/flash/hss.ht​ml