Riding Into the Best Fucking Sunset Ever

Eric Godard isn't going to play in the playoffs as it stands now. You know this, I know this, Eric Godard knows this. This is one of the reasons that makes Eric Godard so good at his job. He never complains about not getting ice time, and when he does get ice time, he does his job perfectly. He fights, he sticks his neck out, he yells at people who look at Crosby and Malkin funny, everything. Eric Godard is the best enforcer in the NHL right now, period. You don't see him bitching like Georges Laraque did earlier in the season or being booed on his home ice like Donald Brashear was earlier in the season. You see him being hailed by his teammates and fans a like. Godard got the "Player's Player," award last season for a reason.

So, to see him skating these last two games and skating well has been an absolute joy. Saturday night he threw down with Eric Boulton of the Atlanta Thrashers in order to calm the arena down. Evander Kane is one of the baddest dudes around after this game. In addition to getting under Sidney Crosby's skin multiple times and Mike Rupp's, he WALLOPED. FLAT. OUT. WALLOPED, Matt Cooke.


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Sick. This is what people in Boston wanted. They wanted Cooke wrecked, absolutely destroyed, and he was by Evander Kane. Maybe Kane should start enforcing for the Bruins since Thornton didn't seem to do the trick? You can see it a little in the picture, but we need to go to the video.



Kane saves Cooke from further injury by having a hold of his jersey so he doesn't bash his head off the ice. You see this once in a blue moon and everyone who is Anti-Fighting wants to jump on the bandwagon to get fighting out of the league. But, guess what? People are going to get hurt, legally, in hockey even if you take fists out of the league. There's really no reason to explain where I stand in what place fisticuffs have in hockey and if you honestly don't know, first of all you're an idiot, but also you can just look the other posts on this website.

Kane popping Cooke didn't calm down the players on the opposing sides, however, and the chippy play continued to pick up, culminating in Godard and Boulton dropping the gloves:


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This is why I like hockey and enforcing. In no other sport does this happen. A fight calms everyone down. In baseball beaning someone begets more beaning begets bench clearing brawl begets ejections and that is how it is fixed. In football pushing and shoving begets more shoving begets some flags begets me being bored for longer than I should be. In hockey a fight calms everyone down and I absolutely love it. To keep with the theme of my last post, it's like two champions of their respective houses drawing arms for everyone in their house to fight for their honor. Afterward it is almost always done with. This is what Godard does, he fights some big dude so Sidney Crosby can continue to do what they do and the Atlanta Thrashers aren't shaking in their skates that they might have to fight Eric Godard. Everyone calms down and refocuses.

The following evening Godard was back at it against the Islanders. BUT, in this game Godard did more than just fight. Roughly thirty seconds after Mike Rupp fought Eddy Gordo from the Tekken series:


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Seriously, I had no idea capoeira had become a fighting style of NHL enforcers. Ridiculous. Anyway, 30 seconds after that, the unthinkable happen. Screw Sidney Crosby's 50th goal, screw Sidney Crosby's 51st goal, this happened:


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It's all there are Craig Adams face (and you KNOW Fuck Yeah! Craig Adams! is going to bury a huge goal in the playoffs). Adams has that smile that you had when you were 7 and were unwrapping the big present on Christmas. You saw the unmistakable green and blue flash of this underneath the wrapping paper:



And suddenly Christmas just got that much better. There are numerous ways to describe an Eric Godard goal: Your own personal pinata full of your favorite candy, a case of beer that you thought held 16 ounce bottles that turned out to hold 22 ounce bottles, your classes canceled due to snow, copious amounts of sweet love making, or even that terrible (awesome) movie that you watch over and over again but still fucking rules:



Fuck yeah.

The man...the legend, however, was not finished yet. Godard gave Joel Rechlicz a chance to redeem himself for the sillyness that ensued between him and Rupp earlier in the game. Godard most likely wanted to go after him for the way he didn't let Rupp set up, as how the rules of heavyweight fights have seemed to change to favor over the years.



Nice scrap by the kid, I have to say. Godard seems to be pissed at him for only tying Godard's hands up the entire fight, but when you're going up against one of the better goons in the league, can you really blame him? Godard does get in a few shots so I guess it is a slight victory for him. Two thirds of the Gordie Howe hat trick, not too bad, Eric.

I, however, have a bone to pick with the New York Islander broadcast team of Howie Rose and Billy Jaffe. They make their jokes in the final game of the season, saying the fight is meaningless and that it's dancing with the fourth liners. Granted, neither of these clowns have played a shift in the NHL, so how could they possibly understand why the fight is going on? Though, then again, I DO know why the fight is going on and I can't even skate that well, let alone play a shift in the National Hockey League. Rechlicz is a 22 year old kid looking for his place in the NHL. He has less than thirty career games played in the NHL and is looking for his niche. You don't think, just maybe, with budding superstar John Tavares, and other young stars Matt Moulson and Kyle Okposo that MAYBE, just MAYBE the Islanders are looking for someone to protect them from stuff like this?



No, not at all, couldn't be. Scott Gordon couldn't possibly want something like that on his mind all summer when he wonders who is going to protect his superstar talent. What a bunch of fucking jokes. Like a preseason game, Rechlicz makes people take notice him by fighting not one but TWO heavyweight enforcers in the same game. Gordon will remember Rechlicz fighting for the entire offseason. I wouldn't be surprised if I saw him again.

But, that's all irrelevant now. With the playoffs coming around the corner, it seems Eric Godard will be walking into the sunset unless something heinous happens that requires the Hand of Godard to come down. Otherwise, Eric Godard will be walking into the postseason sunset, and he'll be doing it in fucking style.