WINONA, Minn. — Through her first four seasons with the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team — including the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season – Ary Ziakas was very good between the pipes for the Cardinals.
 
But the Cardinal super-senior made her final season in a Saint Mary's jersey her best yet.
 
And Ziakas' efforts — which helped the Cardinals to a third-place regular-season finish and spearheaded SMU's run to the MIAC Playoff semifinals — did not go unnoticed.
 
Not by a long shot.
 
The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference unveiled its post-season awards on Monday, and Ziakas was front-and-center — being named the conference's Player of the Year, an honor she shared with Hamline's Sophie Rausch.
 
Ziakas — who was also named First-Team All-MIAC for the first time in her collegiate career — was not the only Cardinal racking up post-season honors, as teammate Kas Kingston (Black Diamond, Alberta) also collected a pair of conference accolades, being selected honorable-mention All-MIAC, as well as landing on the league's All-Rookie Team.
 
The Cardinals' drive to a third-place showing in the MIAC regular-season standings — not to mention their best win total since 2003-04 — was spearheaded by Ziakas, who started 13 of the team's 16 conference games. She compiled a 2.01 goals-against-average and a stellar .932 save percentage and finished with 341 saves in conference play.
 
Overall, ZIakas appeared in21 of the team's 25 games, boasting a 2.44 GAA and .914 save percentage with a career-high 488 saves. She posted the best performance of her five-year collegiate career against Gustavus on Jan. 28 stopping 55 of the 56 shots she faced. The 55 saves were the most since Ashley Corcoran made 56 saves against Gustavus on Feb. 3, 2017. Ziakas also recorded two shutouts during her final season in 2021-22 — stopping all 12 shots she faced against Johnson & Wales on Jan. 5, and added a 29-save effort in blanking St. Catherine on Feb. 4.
 
Kingston certainly made an impression during her first season as a Cardinal, as the versatile exceled as both a forward and a defenseman during Saint Mary's playoff run — and did all of her offensive damage in Mary's 16 conference games, scoring four goals and adding two assists for six points. Kingston scored her first collegiate goal against St. Olaf on Dec. 3, while also adding an assist against the Oles for her first career two-point night.
 
Along with Ziakas and Rausch sharing Player of the Year honors, Jordan Hansen of Hamline earned the Sheila Brown Award, and Gustavus' Mike Carroll was tabbed the conference's coach of the year, after guiding the Gusties to the regular-season and post-season conference crowns.
 
As part of a conference-wide sportsmanship initiative, the MIAC also announced the annual All-MIAC Sportsmanship team for women's hockey, which included Saint Mary's Jordan Keeley (St. Peter, Minn.). Members of the All-MIAC Sportsmanship team are selected by their coaches and teammates as individuals who demonstrate ideals of positive sportsmanship both on and off the field of competition.