Bill Moe, like his fellow enshrinee Vic Heyliger, was one of those relatively unique hockey people who shared the hockey heritage of both the East and West. Born in Danvers, Mass., Moe grew up in Minneapolis where he was attracted to the ice game. After playing in local amateur leagues and then with the amateur Eastern League Baltimore Orioles, he hooked on with the professional American Hockey League Philadelphia Rockets, later moving on to the Hersey Bears of the same league. He gained laurels as the most valuable player in the American League for the 1943-44 season and attracted the notice of Lester Patrick of the Rangers, who gave up four players to obtain his services.

Employing a unique crouching method of stopping on-rushing forwards, Moe acquired the label of the "best blocking back in hockey." In fact, he was often queried by newspapermen about whether he ever played football. Moe usually replied that he considered that game "too tough," whereupon he then scooted off to the much rougher atmosphere of the hockey rink. Actually, the tough backliner was too small as a high school boy to play football. His playing weight was only 175 pounds, not particularly hard for a body checking defenseman.

Moe played at a time when there were only two other Americans playing in the National Hockey League, Frank Brimsek and John Mariucci, both United States Hockey Hall of Fame enshrinees. A fractured vertebra limited his Stanley Cup playoff appearances to one game.