A former youth hockey coach has admitted to sexually assaulting one of her players.
Madison Biluk, 29, pleaded guilty in court to one count of sexual assault and one count of luring.
Court heard prosecutors will be seeking a prison sentence. The duration of the sentence that will be sought was not disclosed.
Madison Biluk, 29, pleaded guilty to sexual assault and luring in a Winnipeg courtroom Wednesday.
Biluk chewed gum and nodded her head as she sat in the prisoner’s box listening to a Crown attorney read from an agreed statement of facts detailing the circumstances of her crimes, which included repeated sex acts, sexualized text messages, and taking nude pictures and videos of the victim when she was between the ages of 15 and 16.
Biluk will return to court after the completion of a number of reports requested by the defence.
Biluk was charged Nov. 9 with sexual assault, sexual exploitation, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, multiple counts of luring, assault, assault with a weapon and a slew of offences related to child sexual abuse imagery. The Winnipeg Police Service announced her arrest the next day.
The crimes were committed between October 2019 and February 2021, when the player was a teen, court records accessed in November showed. Biluk, who had no criminal convictions at the time she was arrested, was released from police custody under court-ordered conditions.
A WSP spokesman said at a news conference on Nov. 10 that Biluk coached teams under Hockey Manitoba’s authority between 2018 and 2023.
Biluk “forged an inappropriate relationship by grooming and gaining the trust of the survivor,” the spokeswoman said, adding the coercion and abuse continued after the teen stopped playing hockey.
Police told reporters that someone at Hockey Manitoba received information in October 2023 about a relationship between Biluk and a player and contacted sex crimes investigators.
Hockey Manitoba’s executive director, Peter Woods, said last year that the organization, as well as Hockey Canada and Hockey Winnipeg, learned of the abuse claims through a video circulating online. The video appeared to have been made by the player and described physical, emotional and sexual abuse by the coach.
Biluk was then barred from participating in Hockey Canada-sanctioned programs. Past team rosters and public social-media posts suggest she coached high-level girls’ hockey in the Interlake and Winnipeg as well as briefly in Alberta.
fpcity@freepress.mb.ca