AC - I agree with the night option, in the real case its always going to be a lottery with or without NVG.
However, training for a power recovery to a safe hover height ends up reinforcing an incorrect picture for what I think is the important bit of an EOL - the cushion. If you raise the lever too soon, especially on a low intertia rotor, you are going to hit the ground hard.
Equally, you are training for the wrong attitude at the end with a power recovery since the hover attitude and the landing attitude will be different - bouncing hard on the back of the skids will definitely make for an exciting finish.
All I ever emphasised on EOLs was to get the skids level and pointing in the direction of travel - if the landing attitude is right then the chances of survival are much higher.