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I second the above. The cheapest and most convenient empty ice you'll ever find is the stuff sitting beneath you while the puck's at the other end. Given that it takes elite players in full-stride about 8 seconds to go end to end, you'll have plenty of time to recover. You'll also get a much, much better workout from your time-on-ice. Now, in fairness, Optimus seems to have complained repeatedly in this thread about an imbalance in his regular skate that leads to him getting tons of shots and pressure while the other guy stands idle. My suggestion, in that case, would be to arrange a partial or occasional switch: for example, playing the first half or even the first 10-15min in the 'slow net', then switching into your regular end, or alternating ends every other skate. I've found myself in a similar skate -- the 'captains' mutually agreed to stack one team against me -- and every once in a while I do ask to switch things up for part of the time, even though I also skate by myself for an hour beforehand, and do enough coaching that I have plenty of opportunities to work on pure technique. The one qualification I would add to Bender's comment above is that it is possible to play defence-free or unrealistic scoring chances in ways that don't create or reinforce bad habits. This is something I've tried to teach every goalie I've ever coached, because in almost any practise they'll have to face some kind of silly situation; there are only a tiny number of coaches who always produce well-structured drills from a goaltending perspective. The key is to recognise that they're silly situations, and make a conscious effort to defeat them. For example, one of the dumber tactics out there is extending your stick into an almost full paddle-down reach in an attempt to cut off any possible passes. Against patient, cognisant shooters, if used regularly, this will get you torched every time. But if you throw it out every once in a while, it can confuse the hell out of the puck-carrier in a 3v0. Hasek did this brilliantly a few times, usually in conjunction with a Hasek Roll. You can also try stuff like extremely obvious angle-baiting (showing the puck-carrier one overwhelmingly tempting option that you are in fact 'sitting on') or verbal interference ("Don't pass to him! I've got him! Don't make that pass!"). Try a head-first diving poke-check followed by a Scorpion-Kick if the guy flips it over you. Try anything. The worst thing you can do in a stupid situation is to treat it like a sensible one: that's both frustrating and ineffective. Have some fun with it.

In your crease while the puck is in the other end. There are very basic drills you can do by yourself to teach crease movements that can just be done in the crease for a very short time. Make a T-push to your right. Then one back to your left. Then back and forth until the play comes back down to you. It's not a real practice, but it's still a few reps. Or stand on one post like the puck is in the corner. T-push up to the top of the crease (as if puck is in the circle), then over to the top of the crease on the other side (went to other circle), then back to the post (back to corner on same side). Then go the other way. That's 3 T-pushes in one direction simulating a game situation. It's good practice. You could do the same by going across the crease (right post to left crease to right crease back to left post). And this same exact drill can be used for butterfly pushes. Just sit on your knees. Make one push to your left. Then one push back to your right. Then go from one post, to the top of the crease, to the other post this way you learn to rotate your head->hands->hips. Then you can do a combination of T-pushes and slides using those 4 points. Post->T-push to top of the crease->slide back to the other post. You don't need a full sheet and a lot of time to get reps in.

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