Olympic gold medal-Stanley Cup double is at stake for Americans in the final

Ken Morrow liked to consider himself the answer of a trivia question as the only hockey player who won an Olympic gold medal and hoisted the Stanley Cup in the same year. He was part of the 1980 U.S. “Miracle on Ice” team and then joined the New York Islanders for their first of four titles in a row.

A half-dozen Canadians have done it since the NHL started sending players to the Olympics, but at this moment, more Americans have walked on the moon than accomplished what Morrow did. He is the only one.

That will soon change, no matter how the Cup final ends. After the U.S. won gold at the Olympics for the first time in 46 years, Carolina's Jaccob Slavin is one victory away from joining Morrow, unless Vegas wins Games 6 and 7 to put Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin in that exclusive club.

“I’ve had my 46 years,” Morrow told The Associated Press by phone Friday. “I’m always one that likes to see new people win the Cup, guys get a chance to do something that they’ll remember the rest of their lives. And for whoever does it this year, yes, I think it’s great.”

Morrow won the Stanley Cup four times in a row as part of that Islanders dynasty. Eichel is the only U.S. player in the final with a Cup ring, and he had a major part in the Golden Knights' championship run in 2023.

After helping the U.S. win gold in Milan in February, Eichel says there are similarities and differences to those journeys.

“One’s nine, 10 months; one’s two weeks,” Eichel said. “One of them is winner-take-all of just one game at a time. These are seven-game series, so it’s different in that sense. I think from an emotional standpoint and a mentality, I think there’s a lot of similarities: just the investment in winning and the feeling in the room and everything that comes with it.”

The single-elimination element is a good way of thinking of playoff hockey, Eichel said, though Hanifin pointed out that it is drastically different preparing for a game at a time at the Olympics than enduring the ups and downs of a postseason.

“When you’re playing seven-game series, you can kind of build over time and if you hit a little bit of a setback or some adversity, you can kind of learn from it and build and come back better,” Hanifin said. “Whereas Olympics, when you get into those medal rounds, it’s a one-and-done situation, so it’s different in that regard.”

If the Hurricanes win, it would be some measure of retribution for Seth Jarvis, who played for Canada in the final and lost to the U.S. in overtime on Jack Hughes' winning goal.

When Carolina had him, Slavin and bronze medalist Sebastian Aho pose for a photo with their medals in their Olympic jerseys, Jarvis in a behind-the-scenes video quipped about reliving his nightmares and brought up the stuffed animal versions of an Olympic mascot that IOC officials gave to a group of players after losing the biggest game of their lives.

Before the start of the final, Jarvis acknowledged the events are two separate things.

“Obviously, losing in the gold medal is going to suck forever,” Jarvis said. “But now I get a chance to be a winner and win something big here with a group of guys that I’ve been grinding with for five years, been through the ups and downs of it and people that I just really care about.”

Two more losses would put Jarvis back in the same spot, albeit without another stuffie. One more defeat by the Golden Knights would mean losing twice in a final this year for Mitch Marner, Shea Theodore and Mark Stone.

Before the series began, Slavin was working hard to keep his brain from drifting to the possibility.

“It crosses my mind,” Slavin said. “But we’ve got to go out and do a job first, so not trying to give it too much thought.”

In the nearly five decades since Morrow completed the Olympic gold-Stanley Cup double, the entire situation has changed. The NHL has participated in the Olympics six times since 1998, so players are already professionals.

Morrow at age 23 went less than a week and a half between beating the Soviet Union in the “Miracle on Ice” in Lake Placid, New York, visiting the White House, having his first practice with the Islanders and making his NHL debut.

“I was trying to earn a living,” Morrow said. “I had to kind of really change focus quickly into trying to earn a job with the New York Islanders, and it wasn’t a sure thing for me when I first came to them right after the Olympics. Am I going to be able to play in the league? Those were questions that I was facing in trying to make a living. And these guys certainly didn’t have that facing them after the Olympics.”

They just had to get back to doing their job, which was a challenge in itself. Vegas and Carolina each finished atop its division and got through three rounds of the playoffs.

That gave Eichel, Hanifin and Slavin an opportunity to join Morrow, Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan from Detroit in 2002, Jonathan Toews, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith from Chicago 2010, and Drew Doughty from Los Angeles in 2014 in the history books.

“For myself, it’s been a pretty surreal year: Winning gold was awesome, and then having the chance to play for a Stanley Cup is awesome,” Slavin said. “I take it as a blessing and just thankful for it.”

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

FILE - United States' Noah Hanifin chases the puck during the first period of the men's ice hockey gold medal game against Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

FILE - United States' Jack Eichel celebrates after the United States defeated Canada in a men's ice hockey gold medal game between Canada and the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)

FILE - Ken Morrow of the 1980 U.S. ice hockey team walks on stage during a "Relive the Miracle" reunion at Herb Brooks Arena on Feb. 21, 2015, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, File)

FILE - United States' Jaccob Slavin (74) poses with his gold medal after the men's ice hockey gold medal game between Canada and the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United States and Iran once again appear close to a deal to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Saturday that a deal aimed at ending the war in the Middle East is closer than ever before and expected to be finalized within 24 hours. Pakistan is preparing for the electronic signing of the agreement, followed by technical-level talks next week.

U.S. President Donald Trump said the deal was “scheduled to get signed tomorrow,” and that the Strait of Hormuz would open immediately. But Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said no signing would occur Sunday and left the possibility open for the coming days.

Previous declarations of an imminent breakthrough failed to materialize.

Iran exchanged fire with the U.S. and Israel earlier in the week, threatening to push the region back into a full-scale war. The war launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28 has rattled the region and virtually shut down oil and natural gas shipments from the Persian Gulf. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since April 7.

Here's what to know:

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday the terms of dealing with Iran’s nuclear program would be finalized in the 60 days after the initial agreement is signed and that the parties could decide to extend that period.

The U.S. and Israel fear Iran’s nuclear program could lead to an atomic weapon — a main reason their leaders cited for going to war. Tehran has insisted its nuclear efforts are for peaceful purposes.

A senior U.S. administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, said Friday that the emerging agreement would begin the process of destroying or removing Tehran’s highly enriched uranium.

The official said the 60-day period after both sides sign the deal would be used to work out technical details for removing the uranium. The official did not say who the U.S. envisions taking charge of removing the uranium, which is believed to be entombed under three nuclear sites battered by U.S. strikes last year.

The U.S. official said the emerging agreement includes provisions for reopening the strait.

Araghchi said Iran wants a deal that allows Tehran to charge ships “for services rendered” when they transit the strait. Iran imposed a toll system during the war, which the U.S. and other nations have said violates international law.

Transit through the strait, a vital shipping lane for oil and natural gas, has disrupted global energy supplies, driven up fuel prices and made food and other basics like fertilizer more expensive well beyond the region.

Three regional officials said the emerging deal was expected to include the phased lifting of sanctions on Iran and the release of frozen Iranian assets. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.

They said they expect a signing ceremony for the agreement in the coming days after officials in Washington and Tehran approve it.

Iran has insisted that any deal must also include a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Friday that Israel could still act independently toward Iran and that the country would not pull out of the zones it is occupying in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, nor would it withdraw from the northern refugee camps of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Fighting continued in southern Lebanon on Saturday.

Weissert reported from Washington and Mednick from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price and Aamer Madhani in Washington and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.

A woman walks past an anti-American mural on the wall of the former U.S. Embassy, now a museum, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)