Harold Lloyd Ailsby (May 11, 1917 – May 8, 2007) was a Canadian

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

. A career minor leaguer, he played three games for the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team plays ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL) in the 1951–52 season.

Playing career

Lloyd Ailsby played

junior hockey Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 16 to 20 year-old players. National Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's national junior ice hockey team are the defending champions from t ...

Moose Jaw Moose Jaw is the List of cities in Saskatchewan, fourth largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Lying on the Moose Jaw River in the south-central part of the province, it is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina, Saskatchewan, Re ...

, Saskatchewan for the

Moose Jaw Canucks The Moose Jaw Canucks were a junior ice hockey team based in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. They were one of the founding members of the original Western Canada Junior Hockey League (1948–1956), and in 1966 were founding members of a new ''Wes ...

in 1934-35, and the following year for the Regina Capitals of the Southern Saskatchewan Senior Hockey League. In 1936, he was first signed by the New York Rangers, and played for their affiliate teams, the

New York Rovers The New York Rovers were a senior ice hockey team that was established in 1935. They played in the Eastern Hockey League as a farm team of the New York Rangers. The Rovers played alongside the Rangers in Madison Square Garden (1925), Madison Squ ...

and

Philadelphia Ramblers The Philadelphia Ramblers were a minor professional ice hockey team based in the Philadelphia Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Ramblers played for six seasons during the infancy of the American Hockey League from 1935 to 1941. Histor ...

for the next few years. With the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Ailsby served with the Canadian military, and missed a couple of seasons. After the war, Ailsby joined the St. Paul Saints of the old

USHL The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the Midwestern United States and Great Plains, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. Th ...

, and played for them when they won the league championship in 1949. Ailsby was a Second Team

All Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

every year he played for St. Paul. In 1951, the Rangers brought him back to the Rovers, and installed him as a playing coach for them. In December 1951, the Rangers called him up, and he played three games for them, wearing number 17, without scoring any points. Ailsby returned to the Rovers, and went on to serve as playing coach in Seattle and later with the

Johnstown Jets The Johnstown Jets were a professional ice hockey team from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The Jets were founded in the Eastern Hockey League, Eastern Amateur Hockey League for the 1950–51 season, playing at the newly constructed Cambria County War M ...

of the EHL. He was named an EHL First Team All Star in 1957. He returned to the Rovers as a non-playing coach in 1960-61, and was replaced after the season by Rovers defenceman

John Muckler John Muckler (April 13, 1934 – January 4, 2021) was a professional hockey coach and executive, who last served as the general manager of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). Muckler had over 50 years of professional hockey e ...

, as another playing coach for the newly renamed

Long Island Ducks The Long Island Ducks are an American professional minor league baseball team based on Long Island in Central Islip, New York. The Ducks compete in the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB), an independent "par ...

Personal life

While in the Rangers organization, Ailsby met Aline Adams, an attendant at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

, and married her in 1941. After his hockey career was over, Ailsby and his family returned to Saskatchewan, where they operated a farm outside of

Swift Current Swift Current is the sixth-largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is situated along the Trans-Canada Highway west of Moose Jaw, and east of Medicine Hat, Alberta. As of 2024, Swift Current has an estimated population of ...

. Ailsby remained a hockey fan and supporter, and in 1986 was part of a group of local businessmen instrumental in securing the return of the

Swift Current Broncos The Swift Current Broncos are a Canadian major junior ice hockey team based in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Founded in 1967, the Broncos relocated to Lethbridge, Alberta in 1974, and were known as the Lethbridge Broncos, before returning to S ...

to the city from

Lethbridge Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 106,550 in the 2023 Alberta municipal censuses, 2023 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...

. Ailsby was on the Broncos' board of directors when they won the

Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), a consortium of three Junior ice hockey, major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tou ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

. Ailsby died in 2007, three days before turning 90, and was buried in Swift Current.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Coaching statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ailsby, Lloyd 1917 births 2007 deaths Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Canadian ice hockey defencemen Canadian military personnel of World War II Cornwall Flyers players Ice hockey people from Saskatchewan Johnstown Jets players Moose Jaw Canucks players New Haven Ramblers players New York Rangers players New York Rovers players Ottawa Senators (QSHL) players Philadelphia Ramblers players St. Paul Saints (USHL) players Seattle Bombers players Western International Hockey League players Canadian military personnel from Saskatchewan 20th-century Canadian sportsmen