ICE HOCKEY: PICKAX HELPS PLAYER BUILD UP STRENGTH VALENCIA VIPERS FORWARD GALE HAS USED JOB IN CONSTRUCTION, PRACTICE TO HONE HIS SKILLS.

Byline: GIDEON RUBIN Special to the Daily News

VALENCIA -- His nearly perfect form is the product of a development process that began when Chris Gale was 5.

The strength comes from nontraditional hockey training. A good portion of Gale's work day building swimming pools for his father's San Fernando Valley-based construction company is spent swinging a pickax.

Gale, a standout Valencia Vipers forward, said his ability to unleash a powerful and accurate wrist shot with exceptional quickness -- a tool that has him on course to play competitively at a four-year college -- is the product of both backgrounds.

Gale is the leading scorer for an inexperienced Vipers team that's struggled in the Jr. B Western States Hockey League, the highest level of amateur hockey played in the state. Valencia (4-14-1) is in sixth place in the eight-team Western Division.

He leads the team with 18 goals and 13 assists, and he's been involved in 46.6 percent of the team's 68 goals.

Gale was selected earlier this month to represent the WSHL in the All-Star Jamboree in Blaine, Minn., but didn't play as a result of a wrist injury.

Gale, a Highland High of Palmdale grad, played for the Antelope Valley Northerners in the Ice Station's club High School Hockey League. He led the Northerners to a league championship in 2005, when he was the league's leading scorer and MVP.

Gale has worked for his father's construction business since graduating from high school and on weekends when he could before that. He believes the experience contributed to his hockey development.

``It's hard work, but it's something I can turn around and use on the ice,'' Gale said, using his arms to illustrate the similarities between swinging a pickax and a hockey stick.

``It definitely makes you grittier,'' Gale added. ``Hockey's not glamorous work either; it's a physical sport, there's a lot of fighting and checking.

``You have to be tough to play this sport.''

Gale developed his wrist shot at an early age under the tutelage of his father Steve, who played semiprofessional hockey for the Pacific Southwest Hockey League in the early 1980s.

``He always used to say `plant your feet and follow through,''' Gale said. ``A lot of the players in NHL we used to watch didn't always have the best form, but they could get away with it because they had the arm strength. As a kid,you really don't have that arm strength.''

The shot has drawn wows from teammates and coaches.

Vipers coach and Ice Station director of hockey operations Larry Bruyere said Gale's trademark shot is reminiscent of Colorado Avalanche center Joe Sakic's.

``He's quick with the shot,'' teammate Theodor Tyse said. ``He's a sniper.''

Gale has been playing on travel teams since he was 7. He played elite-level Tier 2 hockey for the Iceoplex of North Hills-based Pee Wee AA (11- and 12-year-olds) West Valley Wolves and Midget AA (15- and 16-year-olds) Long Beach Surf Dogs.

Among his career highlights was playing for the California Amateur Hockey Association's Team California in 2005, which was coached by former NHL star Nelson Emerson.

Gale said his dream is to play Div. I level hockey, an aspiration that isn't altogether unrealistic, Bruyere said.

At 20, Gale's amateur-level hockey options are limited. This is the last season Gale can play at the Juniors (A or B) level.

Bruyere said missing the prospect-showcase Jamboree was a setback, but believes he can still play elite-level college hockey, even if he has to start out at a Div. III school on the East Coast.

In addition to his trademark wrist shot, Bruyere said Gale's outstanding stick-handling ability and vision are the product of experience and smarts that set him apart.

``He's played at the highest level since he was 11,'' Bruyere said. ``He's the type of player who could play at any Div. III school right now.''

Gale said he takes as much pride in setting up plays as he does finishing them. In Valencia's 7-2 Nov. 17 victory over the Idaho Rattlers, he had one goal and four assists.

But teammates say his leadership and propensity for making big plays in key situations energizes the team.

He seemed to have that effect in Valencia's 4-3 Nov. 18 victory over Idaho, when midway through the third period of a 2-2 game he set up his own goal, passing the puck between a defender and his stick and then skating around him for an open 20-footer.

``It's exhilarating when you get the whole team pumped up,'' Gale said.

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Forward Chris Gale leads the Valencia Vipers with 18 goals and 13 assists.

Gideon Rubin/Special to the Daily News