WINONA, Minn. — It's a pretty safe bet that Saint Mary's University's A.J. Ruskowski (Traverse City, Mich.) slept very well Saturday evening — and probably well into Sunday morning.
 
Kicking out 81 shots in a 24-hour period will do that to a person.
 
Ruskowski was a busy man between the pipes for the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team in the Cardinals' conference series against St. Scholastica, stopping a career-high 48 shots in Friday's 4-2, come-from-behind victory on Friday, before adding 33 more saves in SMU's 4-1 loss to the Saints the following afternoon.
 
And Monday, the junior goalie was rewarded for his Herculean effort, being named MIAC Defensive Player of the Week, when the league office unveiled this week's honorees.
 
Friday's opener against the Saints started rather quietly for Ruskowski, who needed to make just seven saves in the opening period. And then came the second stanza — where the Cardinal netminder literally stood on his head, stopping 29 — yes, 29 — of the Saints' 30 shots on goal, before kicking out all 13 third-period shots to help preserve the 4-2 victory.
 
Ruskowski was once again busy between the pipes in the rematch, making 33 more saves — giving the junior 11 consecutive games this season in which he has stopped 20 or more shots in a game.
 
For the season, Ruskowski has compiled a 3.52 goals-against-average and .909 save percentage in 11 starts, stopping 379 of the 417 shots he's faced.
 
Ruskowski and the Cardinals (6-7-1 MIAC, 8-13-2 overall) are back in action with a huge two-game series at Concordia. SMU and CC will square off at 7 p.m. at the Moorhead Sports Center in Moorhead, Minn., on Friday, before closing out the two-game series with a 2 p.m. matinee the following afternoon.