Former Winnipeg hockey coach pleads guilty to luring and sexually assaulting a teenage player

WARNING: This article contains details of abuse.

A former Winnipeg hockey coach has pleaded guilty to sexual assault and luring after he was charged last year in what prosecutors described as a sexually exploitative relationship with a teenage player.

Madison Biluk, now 29, was charged in November 2023 with more than a dozen crimes, including sexual exploitation and possession of child pornography, linked to abuse that the court heard took place between October 2019 and February 2021.

Biluk was between 24 and 26 years old at the time, while the player was 15 and 16, Crown attorney Larissa Campbell read from an agreed statement of facts in a Winnipeg courtroom Wednesday afternoon. The player’s identity is protected by a court-imposed publication ban.

While Biluk’s relationship with the player started with driving her to practices and taking her rollerblading, it involved late-night phone calls and private messages on Snapchat with explicit photos and personal discussions about sex and relationships.

Biluk at one point told the player that they should not pursue a relationship because she was her coach, but her behavior quickly escalated and soon included taking intimate and nude videos and photos with the girl and kissing and sexually touching the player, Campbell said.

That included one time when they were traveling for a hockey game and Biluk texted the girl to come to her hotel room, where she performed sex acts on her.

Biluk, who is no longer coaching and is on conditional bail, appeared in court on Wednesday afternoon along with a group of family members. The remaining charges she faced were stayed.

Fake Snapchat account

The court heard the girl lost many of her friends as a result of the amount of time she spent with Biluk, who told her to keep their relationship a secret. When her grades dropped because she wasn’t going to school, the teen lied to her parents about her whereabouts.

In the spring of 2020, the girl no longer wanted to be in a relationship with Biluk but continued to meet her to have sexual contact, which Campbell said was because the girl was “emotionally attached to the suspect and felt this was the only one.” way to keep [her] in her life.”

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Two teenage female hockey players allege their coach manipulated and abused players on their elite under-18 team in Alberta, raising red flags. The coach has now been charged with 15 offenses related to a relationship with an underage player in Manitoba, including sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a minor.

When the girl moved on and started having relationships with people closer to her own age, the court heard Biluk created a fake Snapchat account to send the girl’s friends disparaging comments about the girl’s new girlfriend teenager.

The court heard the two had stopped all contact in February 2021. But the teen, who had confided in Biluk about being depressed and having been sexually abused by a trusted adult, continued to struggle.

This resulted in a suicide attempt in early February 2023. The court heard the girl called Biluk around that time to ask for help “and suggested the suspect had played a role in her mental health condition”, Campbell said.

About a week later, the girl ended up in the Crisis Response Center after another suicide attempt.

Posts about ‘risky’ relationship

Not long after, the girl began to process what happened between her and Biluk, and in October 2023, she posted a TikTok video detailing her experience, which came to the attention of police.

The teen later shared with police a number of photos and videos of her and Biluk together, as well as messages in which Biluk called their relationship “one of the riskiest things in my life.”

After Biluk was arrested, she said she still cared about the player but said she was shocked by the TikTok video she posted and described the teen as a “pathological liar,” Campbell said.

Police later seized Biluk’s phone, where they found emails and Snapchat messages related to the player, including one in which she told someone she didn’t think things like age or how a couple met mattered would matter in a relationship.

“Who are people to decide what is socially acceptable and what is not?” Biluk wrote.

Repeated concerns about the coach’s behavior

The court heard Biluk coached hockey from 2019 through 2023 and during that time raised concerns on several occasions with the coaching staff saying her conduct went beyond the professional coach-and-player relationship, Campbell said.

These concerns resulted in several warnings, but failed to curb her behavior.

After her contact with the player ended, Biluk continued coaching in Alberta and Manitoba, where her behavior again raised concerns about inappropriate boundaries with players. Although her conduct was investigated in both provinces, no further charges were filed, Campbell said.

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Former girls hockey coach Madison Biluk, 28, has been charged with more than 15 offences, including assault and luring, in a case involving a teenager she once coached, Winnipeg police said on Friday, Nov. 10, 2023.

During their investigation into Biluk’s conduct with the teenager she pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting and luring, the court heard police received several letters from parents of other players in the girls’ team which “painted a negative picture of the coaching skills, professionalism and the suspect’s ability to sign’. appropriate boundaries with underage players.”

The court heard the teenager continues to struggle with her sexuality, mental health and ability to maintain healthy relationships.

Biluk will be sentenced at a later date.

Former Winnipeg hockey coach pleads guilty to luring and assaulting a teenage player

Madison Biluk, a former Winnipeg hockey coach, has pleaded guilty to assault and enticement after he was charged last year in connection with what police described as a sexually exploitative relationship with a teenage player.

For anyone who has been sexually assaulted, support is available through crisis lines and local emergency services through the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. If you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety or the safety of others around you, call 911.

If you or someone you know is struggling with this, you can get help here:

If you’re concerned that someone you know is at risk of suicide, you should talk to them about it, says the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention. Here are some warning signs:

• Suicidal thoughts.
• Substance abuse.
• Aimlessness.
• Tension.
• The feeling of being trapped.
• Hopelessness and helplessness.
• Intake.
• Fury.
• Recklessness.
• Mood swings.