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. After being called up to the
American Hockey League on April 1, 2000, by the
Louisville Panthers, Godard was involved in his first professional fight taking on
Todd Fedoruk of the
Philadelphia Phantoms. Godard never played for the NHL 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 forth between the
Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the
AHL and the Islanders. Godard played slightly more in the 2003–04 season 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 6, 2006, Godard was suspended 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 minutes (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 re-sign 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 diminish from 71 games in 2008–09 to 45 games in the 2009–10 to 19 in 2010–11. Over those three seasons, Godard recorded 10 points and 352 penalty minutes while also winning the
Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 2009. On February 11, 2011, Godard was suspended for 10 games for leaving the bench and joining a fight in
a game against the
New York Islanders when
Micheal Haley tried to fight Pittsburgh
goalie Brent Johnson. On April 8, 2011, Godard was involved in his final NHL fight with
Trevor Gillies of the
New York Islanders. Godard was avenging Gillies' elbow to the head of teammate
Eric Tangradi. 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. The first year of his contract was two-way and the second was 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. On March 2, 2012, Godard would drop the gloves for one final time in the AHL against
Pierre-Luc Létourneau-Leblond of the
Abbotsford Heat. Slated to earn $700,000 the following season regardless of where he played, the Stars 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. ==Career statistics==