Kelly began his ice hockey playing career in his home town of Arnprior where he represented the Arnprior Shamrocks in the Upper Ottawa Valley Hockey League. Arnprior Shamrocks claimed the 1910 UOVHL championship title on March 16, 1910 by defeating the Pembroke Hockey Club 3 goals to 2 in Renfrew and Kelly scored two of the goals for Arnprior, including the game winning 3-2 goal in the second half of the game. Kelly played in Montreal during the 1910–11 and 1911–12 seasons, in the city league and in the Interprovincial Amateur Hockey Union, with the Montreal Stars and the Montreal Shamrocks, and during the 1911–12 season his younger brotherErnie Kelly joined him playing on the Stars and the Shamrocks. In 1912–13 and 1913–14 Kelly played for the Grand-Mère Hockey Club from Grand-Mère in Québec, in the IAHU. Grand-Mère HC had a strong team, where Kelly played a central role, and won the IAHU championship both in 1913 and 1914. In 1913 Grand-Mère HC won league honors by defeating the Ottawa New Edinburghs in the final 7 goals to 4 over two games, and in 1914 the club again emerged victorious in the IAHU and challenged the Regina Victorias from Saskatchewan for the Allan Cup, the premier amateur hockey prize in Canada, but the Victorias held on to the trophy by defeating Grand-Mère HC 10 goals to 5 over two games on home ice in Regina. Kelly joined the Winnipeg Victorias in the Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League for the 1914–15 season, but mostly appeared as a spare player during the season behind Alex Romeril, as well as with the Winnipeg Victorias intermediates, although he did start a league game at his natural center forward position on January 21, 1915 against the Winnipeg Hockey Club in a contest the Victorias won 11 games to 5, with Kelly scoring a goal off of Percy Galbraith's skate. The three following seasons, between 1915 and 1918, Kelly played hockey in Saskatoon where he was a prolific scorer. The March 5, 1917 issue of the SaskatoonDaily Star concluded that Kelly had not lost his speed from his Grand-Mère days and that he had also added more cunningness to his game, and that he had a "flip" shot that caused disruption for the opposing goaltenders. Frank Patrick of the Vancouver Millionaires of the PCHA signed Kelly from the Vancouver Shipyards Coughlans well into the 1919 season, on January 31, and used him as a spare player for the rest of the regular season. Kelly was given sweater #10 with the Millionaires, but he did not score any goals for the club. Kelly joined the Calgary Columbus Club of the Alberta Big-4 Hockey League for the 1919–20 season where he became a teammate of Mickey MacKay who had also starred on the 1919 Vancouver Millionaires in the PCHA. While not playing hockey with the Columbus Club Kelly worked as an insurance adjuster. After his playing career was over Kelly stayed in Calgary and in the 1930s he was both a hockey coach and referee in the city. In 1935–36 he coached the Calgary Rangers of the Alberta Senior Hockey League.
