I was too young to remember that, but I’m convinced that hockey would have become a top-tier major sport in the U.S. long before it did had the Flyers not employed their street-thug brand of hockey so successfully back in the 1970s.
You really should watch this. Great Documentary on The Broad Street Bullies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms68m8ZP528
Curious, Did you see that documentary “Ice Guardians”? What’d you think?