Carnegie’s hockey career began in 1938 with the Toronto Young Rangers and continued in the early 1940s with the Buffalo-Ankerite Bisons, a team in a senior league that played in mining towns in northern Ontario and Québec. From 1944-45 to 1947-48, he played for Shawinigan and Sherbrooke of the semi-professional Quebec Senior Hockey League and was named most valuable player in 1946, 1947 and 1948.