This year Anthrocon got pushed into Father's day weekend to make way for the NHL Draft as opposed to its traditional timing of the last Sunday of June. Now it would appear that furry is returning the favor and encroaching on the NHL.

When asked about taking on the Penguins in the quarter-final playoffs, Ilya Bryzgalov, the goalie of the rival Philadelphia Flyers, said:

You know, I'm not afraid of anything. I am afraid of bear, but bear is in the forest.

Being a city that is no stranger to animal costuming, the response of "about 70" Pittsburgh fans was to don bear costumes to taunt and perhaps take advantage of Ilya's ursaphobia.

Although the tactic appeared to be having an effect at the start, the Flyers seemed to overcome their fears, and now hold a commanding 3-0 lead in the playoff series.

Anthrocon announced Friday night that next year's convention had been moved up a week to accommodate a mystery event, at the request of the City of Pittsburgh.

The new dates are June 14–17, 2012. Anthrocon was duly rewarded for its flexibility:

Pittsburgh has been given a very rare opportunity to host an event that they have been wanting to host for many years. The only trouble was that the proposed event (and we won't say what it is until it is officially announced) would lie in part over Anthrocon's planned weekend. [...] As much as we love our adopted home city and would do anything in our power to support them, we were hesitant to change the date of our convention after having announced it.

Pittsburgh replied with, "What if we got you another hundred hotel rooms within walking distance of the Convention Center?" — We said, "Where do we sign?"

While the event has not been announced, it has been rumoured that the NHL Entry Draft, convened annually in late June, might be coming to Pittsburgh for the first time since 1997.