The Michigan and Michigan State hockey teams will play for the Iron D Trophy on Feb. 5 at Joe Louis Arena.

Mike Bayoff, Director of Strategic Hockey Alliances for the Red Wings/Olympia Entertainment, told the Free Press that U-M coach Red Berenson and MSU coach Tom Anastos will help play a role in the creation of the rival trophy, which will go to the winner of the annual game played in Detroit.

Bayoff said Michigan and Michigan State play for the Paul Bunyan Trophy in football, and Olympia Entertainment wanted to create something to signify the hockey rivalry when the game is played in Detroit.

The U-M/MSU hockey game at Joe Louis Arena has recently been termed “The Duel in the D.”

“We wanted to have something that was our own when the two hockey teams from each university comes here to the Joe,” Bayoff said. “The trophy that will be unveiled is called the Iron D.”

Bayoff said brothers Erik and Isreal Nordin of Detroit Design Center were commissioned to create the trophy because “they have done a lot of great work throughout the city.”

Why is it called the Iron D Trophy?

“Well, we play hockey, obviously, in the D,” Bayoff said. “We had ‘College Hockey in the D’, so the D made sense.

“The iron part is just from strength, toughness. Obviously, with the rebirth of the city and everything that’s going on development-wise we thought the timing was great to introduce a trophy for this game. It is a regular-season game, but we wanted it to be a little bit special, more special than a regular-season game. Now we say there’s something to play for.”

The teams will play Joe Louis Arena at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 5, 2016.

Bayoff said a presentation was made at the hockey offices of each university regarding the trophy.

“Very soon each coach will get a sneak peek of the trophy being built and they will actually have a little bit of craftsmanship in the trophy,” Bayoff said. “I don’t know if that’s hammering a piece of the D. We don’t know if it is letting them cut something, but they will, in a very small way, be part of the build.”

Contact George Sipple: gsipple@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @georgesipple.