Rivers was drafted in the third round, 63rd overall by the
St. Louis Blues in the
1993 NHL entry draft. Jamie Rivers also has a brother,
Shawn, who played for the
Tampa Bay Lightning. He has represented Canada at the
2009 Spengler Cup. On November 19, 2009, Rivers returned to Europe after a season in the
American Hockey League with the
Chicago Wolves to join
HC Ambri-Piotta of the Swiss
National League A. In the succeeding
2010–11 season, Rivers remained in Europe and following a trial signed with
KHL Medveščak, at the time a member of the
Austrian Hockey League, on December 16, 2010. During his 14th game with Medveščak, Rivers suffered a ruptured
spleen after completing a check. After initially going undiagnosed, a few days later Rivers was rushed to hospital and underwent emergency surgery. Suffering a large amount of internal bleeding, Rivers' heart stopped before he was
electronically defibrillated back to life. Rivers was ruled out for the remainder of the season and returned to St. Louis, where he now lives with his wife Shannon, 22-year-old daughter Karson, 19-year-old twin boys Ashton and Braydon, and 14-year-old McKinnon. ==Post-playing career==