Lloyd Gilmour was born in Cumberland, BC and grew up playing hockey. His junior days were spent with the Nanaimo Clippers where his play gained the attention of the New York Rangers, who in 1949 asked him to try out with the New York Rovers, a Ranger farm team. Gilmour opted to stay in Nanaimo continuing to play for the Clippers.

During the off-season in 1950 Gilmour was involved in a logging accident in which he severely injured his back, pelvis, hips, and legs and endured a hospital stay of six months. Defying the experts, he was back skating soon after, however he realized he was unable to perform at the level he was accustomed to and retired two months later.

With the 1952-53 season came the opportunity to get back in the game as a linesman in the Okanagan Senior Amateur Hockey League. Within two years, Lloyd was refereeing in the Western Hockey League (WHL). Throughout the late 1950s and 1960s, Gilmour logged hundreds of thousands of miles refereeing in the WHL, the CPHL, and the AHL. He did a few games in the National Hockey League during the Original Six era. Once expansion occurred, Lloyd became a permanent fixture in the NHL.

His first NHL game was in Toronto in the legendary Maple Leaf Gardens and he was also assigned the Vancouver Canucks’ first NHL game in 1970. Gilmour was involved in a number of memorable moments throughout his career including “misplacing” the puck used in the last game played at Madison Square Garden and handling some heavy negotiations between the touring Russian Red Army team and the Philadelphia Flyers (the ‘Broad Street Bullies’) in 1976 ensuring the Super Series continued fairly.

Although Gilmour took his fair share of abuse, throughout his career he gained the respect of the players he refereed by being consistent. Gilmour estimates he officiated 1,250 games in the NHL and 314 in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He retired in May of 1976.