2010 First Overall Pick Cody Jamieson Signs Historic Deal With Knighthawks

Cody Jamieson better get used to Rochester’s 585 area code.

Jamieson will be a Rochester, New York resident for a while after he signed a 10-year deal with the Knighthawks on Thursday. It is the longest deal in National Lacrosse League history.

“There is no other place I would rather play professional lacrosse,” said Jamieson in a new release. “This contract shows that.”

The team hasn’t released how much money the rookie is going to earn over the next decade.

Jamieson was the first-overall pick in the 2010 NLL Entry Draft after spending two seasons with Syracuse University. He also played for his hometown team, the Six Nations Chiefs of the Ontario Lacrosse Association Major Series League in the summer of 2009 and 2010.

In 2010 while with Syracuse, Jamieson had 28 goals and 13 assists (41 points) in 15 games. However he might best be remembered for what he did in 2009 when he scored the overtime game-winning goal for the Orange in the National Championship game against Cornell.

“It felt surreal for all the stuff I went through before that,” Jamieson said of that national championship goal. “To get that goal it put everything into perspective. It was a sense of accomplishment.”

Jamieson only played in six games for SU in that 2009 season as he was waiting to be cleared to play by the NCAA.

He was the Knighthawks fifth first-round pick in franchise history and their second in as many years. In the 2009 draft, Rochester chose Sid Smith with the number one selection.

Rochester received this season’s first pick after they traded then rookie Ilija Gajic to the Colorado Mammoth before the start of the 2010 NLL season.

The Knighthawks shipped longtime forward John Grant Jr. to Colorado earlier this fall to help make room for several young scorers that they’ve acquired through the past few drafts. Jamieson will be one of 12 new players on Rochester’s 23-man roster when they begin the regular season next month.

What impressed Knighthawk owner and general manager Curt Styres about Jamieson is his versatility both on the floor and in the locker room.

“He plays well with the guys on the right and left of the floor, and can play a pick-and-roll game,” said Styres in a news release. “He leads by example on and off the floor and is a team player.”

Jamieson will open up his NLL career on Jan. 8 when the Rochester Knighthawks play the Minnesota Swarm at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. He’ll play his first home game on Jan. 15 against Eastern Division rival, the Toronto Rock, at the Blue Cross Arena at the Rochester War Memorial.