By 3 p.m. tomorrow, all 29 AHL teams must submit to the league their Clear Day rosters, a list of players that are eligible to participate in the remainder of the regular season and playoffs.

Only the players listed are allowed to play, though exceptions are made in the event of injury or recall, and teams can also add signed junior players or those on amateur tryouts after tomorrow, but only when their current team's season is over. Teams put extra roster players on an "in-residence" list, making them eligible to play under emergency conditions.

In some cases, AHL teams will include players on recall to the NHL club, in the event their partner does not make the playoffs or is bounced early. That happened last season with River Rats defenseman Tim Conboy, who was on Albany's Clear Day list and wound up back here when the Carolina Hurricanes didn't qualify.

It won't happen this year. Conboy, now Albany's captain, and forwards Michael Ryan and Dwight Helminen won't be on the Rats' list.

"We will not see anybody else from up top," Albany coach Jeff Daniels said following practice this morning at RPI's Houston Field House. "They're there for the season."

Injured players such as Trevor Gillies, Joe Jensen, Jonathan Paiement and Bobby Hughes must be included for if and when they return. Guys like Stefan Chaput and Casey Borer, who are out for the season, do not. I'd put Nicolas Blanchard in that category, as well.

"We don't really have any tough decisions, because it's based on our numbers," Daniels said. "It will be pretty straightforward."

Asked if he'd have trouble reaching the 22-player maximum, Daniels laughed.

"It'll be tough. We'll have to find a couple guys," he said. "Steve (assistant equipment manager Steve Passineau) always says he wants to play, so I might put him on the list, just to have him. He's holding out for a big contract, so I don't know."

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With interim captain Pat Dwyer given an extra day off, there were only 15 skaters on the ice for today's practice. Jakub Petruzalek, who last weekend alternated taking double shifts on Albany's fourth line, skated but was the first player off.

Albany hosts the Norfolk Admirals tomorrow night, the first of four games in six days at the former Knickerbocker Arena.

"I need them fresh for the game," Daniels said. "Patty played a ton last weekend. He led us up front. I just felt that going into this week, we're going to be doing the same thing in terms of playing him a lot. I think it's best he get rest today and be ready for tomorrow."

The Rats skated one under the maximum of 18 in each of its three games last weekend, a win over Springfield and loss to Worcester, both on the road, and a victory over Syracuse Sunday at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

"We had a couple things that fell through," Daniels said. "My thinking was that double-shifting Petro and Patty would be better than what we would have gotten up at that point. Both guys can handle the minutes, so that's the way we went."

Today's line combinations were: Harrison Reed-Nick Dodge-Jerome Samson; Aaron Clarke-Mike Angelidis-Ryan Weston; Brad Herauf-Yannick Tifu-Petruzalek. On defense: Bryan Rodney-Brett Carson; Benn Olson-Noah Babin; Ryan McGinnis-Mark Flood.

"We got a lead on a couple guys, and we kind of hope they go through today," Daniels said. "Obviously, you've got some college kids that are out now, so we're looking at the free agent route, too, but, right now I'm leaning toward the East Coast League."

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Jensen watched practice from the stands in street clothes, and Gillies rode the stationary bike as both recover from concussions. Gillies dates back to Dec. 20; Jensen's came from the team bus crash of Feb. 19.

Meanwhile, both Paiement and Hughes, each hurt in the crash, skated after practice wearing yellow non-contract sweaters. Daniels was unsure how quickly they'll be back.

"A lot depends on how they feel today," he said. "They passed the first test of feeling good on the bike; now it's feeling good on the ice. If they feel good today, we'll push them tomorrow and push them Thursday and maybe this weekend."

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Daniel Manzato will get be in goal against Norfolk. It marks the first time Manzato has started back-to-back games since Dec. 7 and 12. He is 6-1-0-0 in calendar year 2009, including a 4-2 home win over Norfolk March 1 (31 saves).

"It's nothing against Petey (Justin Peters)," Daniels said. "He played real well last weekend, too, but Danny deserves the chance to get back in the net."

On the season, Manzato is 13-7-1-0, 2.73 and .911. It doesn't hurt that he has been in the net for each of Albany's wins over Norfolk this season, allowing five goals in 196 minutes (1.53) and stopping 98 of 103 shots (.951).

"For sure, I feel very good," Manzato said. "I practice hard. Not so long (today) but really hard, and when I am in the net during the game I feel really good. I just try to focus on winning every game. The job of the goalie is to try to give a chance for the team to win, and I try to do that the best I can. When you play, the confidence is higher and you feel more comfortable every time."

Manzato is also feeling good about his smile. He had the bottom half of his left front tooth broken off in the game March 1, but was able to find the wayward piece on the ice and has since had it reattached.

"I froze the puck and when I had the puck I saw the tooth right on the ice," Manzato said. "They fixed it with the same tooth. I guess they glue it together. They said it's a 50 percent chance that it will work, but for now, it's perfect."

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The Rats had an unexpected visitor at practice today in Norfolk forward Radek Smolenak.

It seems Smolenak was not allowed back on the Admirals bench after his first-period fight Sunday in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton by coach Darren Rumble, and subsequently told that he would not be going on the team's road trip which begins tomorrow.

Smolenak, who ranks fourth on the team with 41 points (18g, 23a) in 56 games and is a plus-8, apparently made the trip to Albany on his own dime. He walked into Houston Field House carrying his own luggage and equipment bag, anticipating Norfolk's original noon practice at RPI.

It seems that the Admirals had some travel issues leaving Wilkes-Barre and had their skate pushed back to 4:30, since the RPI men's team was practicing at 2. The Engineers play at Cornell in the ECAC quarterfinals this weekend.

Smolenak didn't stick around. He left with Petruzalek after the Rats forward showered and dressed. All from the Czech Republic, Smolenak, Petruzalek and ex-Rat Josef Melichar are frequent dinner companions during layovers in their respective cities.

Steve Downie, suspended 20 games by the AHL last week for physical abuse of an official (rule 41.2, to be exact), won't be on the trip. Norfolk is appealing the suspension, saying Downie's slash to the leg of linesman Mike Hamilton was incidental, coming on a follow through of a center-ice faceoff. If the appeal works, which isn't expected, Downie will join the team.

UPDATE, 6:03 P.M. -- The AHL's Board of Governors has upheld the suspension by a unanimous vote, conducted via conference call this afternoon. Downie won't be eligible to return until April 11, Norfolk's season finale at Wilkes-Barre.

East Greenbush native Matt Lashoff, traded last week by Boston to Tampa Bay and assigned to Norfolk, has yet to play a game for the Admirals. He told us last week he was headed to Florida for treatment on a gash to the back of his knee that needed 30 stitches to close, sliced open by an opponent's skate. It is believed Lashoff is still there, and that the Lightning want to see him play some NHL games.

A familiar face on Norfolk's roster is forward Brock Hooton (No. 16), who had one game for Albany Feb. 7 vs. Portland. The Rats liked him and tried to get him back from the ECHL last weekend, but they couldn't guarantee him more than the weekend, so he went to the Admirals instead.

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Albany trails fourth-place Binghamton by 12 points, 74-62, for the fourth and final playoff spot in the East Division. The Rats have played 62 games, which will be three fewer than the Senators, who continue a six-game road trip at Portland tonight (7 p.m.) ..... Rats scoring streaks: Brett Carson, 5 games (1g, 4a); Yannick Tifu, 3 games (1g, 2a) ..... Petruzalek has goals in three of four games (3g, 1a) and four of six (4g, 1a) .... Dwyer has four goals in his last three games, two each in wins over Springfield and Syracuse last weekend.