Melbourne Memories: Catching up with Sera Dogramaci

Everything came full circle for Sera Dogramaci a few weeks ago.

The longtime goaltender spent the early parts of the summer at prospect development camp with the Coyotes, participating in the club’s annual coaching internship program alongside Alfie Michaud from the University of Maine.

A little over two months later the Coyotes were in her backyard, participating in the NHL’s 2023 Global Series in Melbourne, Australia.

She wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

“For me to be involved in an NHL experience has been unbelievable,” Dogramaci said. “It’s unforgettable.”

The former goaltender is one of the biggest advocates for hockey as it continues to grow in Australia, and has served as Ice Hockey Australia’s Goaltender Development Manager, where she’s both coached and served as a mentor for goalies of all levels. She was the first-ever Australian coach to participate at an NHL development camp.

Dogramaci learned of the internship program through Coyotes High Performance Director Devan McConnell, and has stayed in contact with both him, goaltender coach Corey Schwab, and Director of Player Development Lee Stempniak. 

She said the things she learned while at prospect development camp have already paid dividends, and she plans on incorporating those lessons, which go far beyond the proverbial game strategies, into her upcoming summer camps and clinics.

Much of what she hopes to share lies in properly leveraging ice time during camps and practices, because as the game continues to grow in Australia, that is what’s truly at a premium.

“How do we maximize our ice time, that was one of my takeaways,” Dogramaci said. “There needs to be more buy-in for that. For me, the big part is the education piece, and it’s not just for the goalies. It’s for everyone to understand that I’m working with you to make this better. So it’s not as much as x’s and o’s and the systems and strategies, it’s how do we make better use of our ice time, and how do we work better together?”

Dogramaci, who has dual citizenship in both Australia and Turkey, enjoyed a successful career between the pipes, starring with the Syndey Sirens in the AWIHL while also competing with Turkey’s national team. She said life since participating in development camp has been “amazing,” and she’s been able to share many of the takeaways since camp wrapped in mid-July.

Many of Ice Hockey Australia’s roles remain 100 percent volunteer-based, and Dogramaci said sharing her knowledge, understanding, and lessons learned remain a valuable asset in growing the game. She’s already planning on holding multiple preseason goalie camps in her home state of New South Wales, and will also co-facilitate coaching courses as well.

Both groups stand to benefit greatly from her expertise.

“I want to take the things I learned, and I can put them into the modules that I deliver to the coaches. That’s huge, “ Dogramaci said. “We only do those in the summer, in the lead-up to the winter season, so that’s a perfect time to implement – it’s not what happens on the ice, but everything away from it. How can I educate the coaches?”

One of the biggest complications in Australia is the lack of available ice. There are some superb facilities like O’Brien Icehouse in Melbourne – where the Coyotes practiced prior to the NHL Global Series games – but there are also others where even locker rooms are a luxury, as opposed to standard.

Hurdles like that Dogramaci’s experience even more valuable as the sport continues to grow.

“We’re limited with our resources, so how do we make the most of it,” she said. “That was my aim when I was at dev camp, to learn what I can and to implement into a similar environment, it’s just at a smaller scale.”

Implementing those strategies as she continues to help ice hockey grow in Australia is as challenging as it is rewarding, but Dogramaci said what she’ll remember most is the time spent with the Coyotes staff, both during and after time on the ice.

Some of that learning is something that will stick with her forever.

“My favorite part was in the evenings when I was having dinner with the coaches, because that’s where the story telling happens, and you learn so much from storytelling, other people’s experiences, and what they went through,” Dogramaci said. “When there were obstacles, how did they overcome them? It was incredible to learn from so many former NHLers that are on the coaching staff. 

“For me, it was a massively big deal.”