‘Iron D’ Trophy unveiled at Joe Louis Arena

By @StefanKubus –

It was revealed at the end of December that Michigan and Michigan State would be playing for the “Iron D” Trophy in their annual mid-season “Duel in the D” game at Joe Louis Arena.

On Tuesday, Olympia Entertainment President and CEO Tom Wilson, Detroit Red Wings Director of Strategic Hockey Alliances Mike Bayoff and the Nordin brothers – Israel and Erik, who designed the trophy at the Detroit Design Center – were on hand at Joe Louis Arena to unveil the finished trophy. It comes just in time for Friday’s game.

“We wanted the design of the trophy to be strong, prideful and to signify the city of Detroit, which has hosted the annual game between Michigan and Michigan State for the last 24 years,” Wilson said. “The trophy will move with us into the new arena and we look forward to many more exciting games between Michigan and Michigan State in the future.”

Weighing in at 50 pounds and standing 25 inches tall, it’s certainly not as easy to pass around as other trophies, though, but that the Nordin brothers took that into consideration, having built a hidden bar running across the underside of the trophy for easier lifting.

“We used a collection of strong materials,” Israel Nordin said. “We didn’t know exactly what it was going to end up [weighing], but we knew it wasn’t going to be light. When you have to get this thing up, you feel that in your muscles… What we did was we built an area underneath where there’s a bar that they can grab, so it’s not slippery; it’s more functional.”

The Nordin brothers certainly implemented the spirit of Detroit in their design, too.

Front and center, of course, is the forged iron “D” with the Detroit skyline wrapping around the front of the base. The new Red Wings arena, the Ambassador Bridge and Motor City Casino are all included. Two hockey sticks run parallel up opposite sides of the trophy, with the Michigan block “M” on one side and the Spartans’ logo on the other. Beneath the “D” sits a red glass puck –the only part of the trophy with color and was hand-blown by the Nordins’ other brother – as a nod to the Red Wings since they host the event in their arena. At the very top between the two stick blades sits a large cup. The base also holds space for the nameplates of the winning teams.

“We definitely wanted to highlight the fact that this game is within the city, even though the two parts are coming to this destination point and the fact that Mike Ilitch and Olympia are supporting this and basically putting this on, that’s an honor, so we wanted to make the piece rising from the city with the energy,” Israel Nordin said.

“Trying to create a piece that ten years from now will look as relevant and as classic and as ‘now’ as the architecture and things that are of the city was really important to us, as well,” Erik Nordin said.

Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin skated for the Wolverines in 2014-15 before making the jump to the professional ranks, and he participated in the ceremonial forging of the trophy following a practice in December. He said the excitement that builds around the “Duel in the D” was one of the most exciting things he remembers from his time with Michigan.

“I remember all the games were really close, not like they were this year, but they were close games, good games, really intense and when we got to play at The Joe, it was sold out so that was one of my cool moments and got to score here, so it was pretty cool to play here last year.” Larkin said.