Playing Career
Godard played junior hockey with the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League. He went undrafted and was signed as a free agent by the Florida Panthers on September 24, 1999. Godard never played for the Panthers though and on June 22, 2002 was traded to the New York Islanders for a third round selection (previously acquired-Gregory Campbell).
Godard made his NHL debut with the Islanders on October 17, 2002 against the Philadelphia Flyers. In his next game on December 6, Godard recorded his first career fight against Tie Domi of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Godard played only occasionally for the rest of season, bouncing back and fourth between the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL and the Islanders.
Godard played slightly more in the 2003-04 for the Islanders, dressing in 31 games and recording 97 penalty minutes. During the NHL lockout in 2004-05, Godard rejoined the Sound Tigers in the AHL playing 75 games, scoring 18 points, and adding 295 penalty minutes.
In the 2005-06 NHL season Godard set career highs in games with 57 and also reached 100 penalty minutes for the first time (finishing with 115). Godard also scored his first career goal and finished the year with four points. On January 3, 2006 Godard was suspending for punching Carolina Hurricanes forward, Justin Williams In the offseason he signed with the Calgary Flames as a free agent on August 10, 2006.
After spending most of the season in the AHL with the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights, Godard was recalled by the Flames for the game against the Minnesota Wild due to the Wild's Derek Boogaard providing a physical presence in the previous teams' meeting. As anticipated, Godard and Boogaard dropped the gloves and Godard was able to stun and then drop Boogaard during the fight. The Flames went on to win the game 3-0 and Godard remained a regular in their roster for the remainder of the year.
Godard again set career highs in games (74) and penalty minues (171) with Calgary in the 2007-08 NHL season and also played in his first playoff game, dressing in five in the Flames' first round series with the San Jose Sharks. The Flames choose not to resign Godard though and on July 1, 2008, he signed a three-year contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
In three seasons with the Penguins, Godard saw his playing time dimish going from 71 games in 2008-09 to 45 games in the 2009-10 to just 19 in 2010-11. Over those three season Godard recorded 10 points and 352 penalty minutes while also winning the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 2009.
In 2011, Godard was suspended for 10 games, for leaving the bench and joining a fight in a game against the New York Islanders when Michael Haley tried to fight Pittsburgh goalie, Brent Johnson
On July 12, 2011, he signed a two year contract with the Dallas Stars and played the 2011-12 season with the AHL's Texas Stars. First year of his contract was two-way and the second - one-way.
Godard did not play a game in the NHL in the 2011–12 season, assigned to the Stars AHL affiliate in Texas for the duration of the year. Slated to earn $700,000 the following season regardless of where he played, the Stars have bought out his contract in June 2012. With the 2012 NHL lockout affecting his contract status, Godard effectively announced his retirement on November 2, 2012.
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