Manitoba hockey coach who lured, sexually assaulted teenage player gets 6 years in prison

WARNING: This story includes a reference to self-harm.

A former Manitoba hockey coach who admitted to luring and sexually assaulting a teenage player on her team was taken into custody Monday to begin serving a six-year prison sentence.

Madison Biluk, 31, was charged in 2023 for abuse court heard happened between October 2019 and February 2021, when she groomed and sexually exploited a player on her team. She pleaded guilty in 2024.

Biluk was between 24 and 26 years old at the time of the offences, while the player was 15 and 16, court previously heard. The player's identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban.

Manitoba provincial court Judge Jerilee Ryle said Monday morning she found Biluk groomed the victim through frequent personal messages and blurred professional boundaries. Biluk used her position of authority as a coach, as well as what she knew about the girl's mental health and past trauma, to draw her into an exploitative relationship, Ryle said.

"The offending was not a one-time lapse in judgment. It persisted for 16 months and was carried out through secrecy, deception and repeated violations of the victim," the judge said in a Winnipeg courtroom, as Biluk sat before her and at one point cried while the judge read from her sentencing decision.

"Parents, players and coaches rely on the belief that youth sports are safe environments. When a person in a position of authority abuses that trust, the entire community feels the consequences through fear, loss of confidence in institutions and concern that similar harm could happen to other young people."

In a victim impact statement previously read in court, the player wrote that what happened had a "severe" emotional impact on her life, leaving her