Szalajj Loc: Salem, NH

BINGO!

Get rid of the filter.

Yankeepapa6 Loc: New York City

It is still a question. Not my place to chastise someone for doing something I might consider important. I'm sure he feels glad he raised this question. Today there is a question raised if Amelia Earhart was eaten by giant Coconut Crabs.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Light is bent going through the "glass" these are the stress patterns the camera is catching of the glass. As the panels are stressed unequally these patterns are formed and picked up. Most likely the "glass" is not float glass we are used to seeing and so is not even. This is a common and simple problem with unequal stressing of "glass" and as light passes through it at certain angles can be seen with the background letting you see it easier.

AndyT Loc: Hampstead, New Hampshire

Fog coming up off the ice?

Ed Walker Loc: Eclectic, Alabama U.S.A.

Do the overhead lights have a mesh-type guard over the light bulb? I have seen these in sports venues, apparently as a protection against glass falling on the playing area. You could be picking up a faint shadow from them.

ELNikkor

Could it be overhead lights at different angles flickering out of synch?

RichardSM Loc: Back in Texas

I concur with Rongo, why would you dump the RAW files but you did give your opinion as to why, however portable HD are cheap these days saving the RAW files is your way back to the working photos, the data is lossless. JPEG is not lossless every time you do something with it it denigrates, But I bet you already know this! Well for what it’s worth better luck next time.

Szalajj Loc: Salem, NH

I'm going to say it again.

Get rid of the filter on the lens.

Shoot another hockey game in the same rink, and see if removing the filter eliminates the grid lines in the close-up shots.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

It is clearly neither pincushion nor barrel distortion. They are totally different phenomena that distort the image (more so toward the edges and corners) without superimposing a pattern over the entire image the way that moiré does.

It is also unlikely that a clear protective filter has anything to do with the issue. Optical glass is created very carefully to avoid stress during cooling.

Could it be the lens? A at a particular focal length (200 mm) and focus distance, the spacing between the lens elements might create an interference pattern that does not show up at other focal lengths and focus distances. However the second image would rule that out because the pattern is regular and spread evenly over the entire image.

A screw-up in post processing? The OP has not kept the raw files so we might conclude that this is a consequence of careless work. But the fact that the pattern is regular in image 2 and curved in image 1 points to something else.

The difference in sharpness and clarity between the first two images and the third strongly suggest that a transparent medium is between the camera and the subjects in images 1 and 2 but not there in image 3. The fault may be in the OP's memory of whether there was any safety glass in the way for image 1 and 2.

These images are three years old and nobody else can explain what went wrong.

It's really down to the OP doing his own testing to narrow down the issue.

aflundi Loc: Albuquerque, NM

With the RAW files gone, it's unlikely this can be figured out unless you can repeat it again. However, someone on DPReview had almost exactly the same thing happen not long ago. The feeling there was the most likely cause to be the distortion-correction part of the processing software -- LR if I remember correctly. Apparently it has, or had, a quick mode that had a bad tendency toward these moire-like bands in high ISO images.

LouV Loc: Juno Beach, FL

It’s great that so many people want to help but, honestly, is it too much to expect that people actually read the post before responding? At the end of the very short first paragraph, the OP says he is not shooting through the glass but from the bench. And he repeats that assertion a few times in the comments. Yet, numerous folks keep telling him it’s cause he’s shooting through the glass.

brooklyn-camera I Loc: Brooklyn, NY

As I stated already, not shooting through anything except air. Shooting the game from the players bench. So I would say that your conclusion might be correct but not for me or these shots. Thanks anyhow.

Japakomom Loc: Originally from the Last Frontier

As previously stated. You are shooting through a filter. That is more than just air. Take it off and shoot another game. I bet you will no longer have this problem.

brooklyn-camera I Loc: Brooklyn, NY

Not getting picky but it appears as if most of the replies are about shooting through the glass. I was shooting from the players bench and as you know there is no glass at the players bench. so for all with answers about shooting through glass, save your time and effort. Lets see if anyone has a good guess as to what happened. It was only for a few pics and have no reason why? Guess the UHH has no idea either. Thanks for your effort.

brooklyn-camera I Loc: Brooklyn, NY

I'll give it a try. Question...why did this occur to only a few photos and not all of them? Out of 1100 photos maybe 20 photos and only at the start of the game. Maybe the camera needs to get acclimated to the cold temp,
could that be a possibility?