Kwong had practiced ice hockey on frozen ponds in Vernon and had not played organized hockey until he joined the Vernon Hydrophones when he was 16 years old. He powered the Vernon Hydrophones to the midget hockey championship of BC in 1939 and then to the provincial juvenile title in 1941. As an 18-year-old, Kwong jumped the junior ranks to play senior hockey after a try-out for the elite semi-professional Trail Smoke Eaters, who had won the 1939 World Ice Hockey Championships. In Trail, players who make the roster get good-paying jobs at a local smelter, but Kwong was denied a job working with his teammates at the smelter because of his Chinese heritage. Instead, he was sent to a nearby hotel to work as a bellhop, carrying bags for patrons.