Kwong's historic NHL moment was literally that, a single shift of less than a minute for the New York Rangers at the end of a
6-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on March 13, 1948
at the Montreal Forum.
Born June 17, 1923 in Vernon, British Columbia, Kwong had taken a meandering path to the NHL, having played in his hometown before joining the Canadian Army, rising to the rank of corporal while he was stationed in Red Deer and Wetaskiwin, Alberta.
According to hockey historian and author Andrew Podnieks, Kwong joined the New York Rovers of the Eastern Hockey League upon his discharge from the armed forces, having been signed by a Rangers scout. He attended Rangers training camp in the fall of 1947 before he was shipped down to the Rovers.
Kwong would forever wonder how much the social climate of the day played into the fact that his NHL career would last little more than the blink of an eye. He was sent back to the Rovers immediately after his one game.
"I was disappointed because when I made the (Rangers), the whole country had my name in the paper that I was playing in the game," Kwong told CBC News in a 2013 interview. "And it turned out, I didn't get much of a chance."
A CBC obituary related how Kwong and his family, grocers in Vernon, faced segregation and were banned at the time from voting, as were all Chinese-Canadians.
But no matter the hurdles he faced, Kwong worked hard at improving his hockey skills and grew to love the sport while he listened to Saturday "Hockey Night in Canada" games on the radio. He said he merely "toughed it out" in hockey against long odds he faced.