Zack Shannon knows a thing or two about the Lewiston Maineiacs. So do his good friends, Zack Phillips, Simon Bissonette and Garrett Clarke.

Shannon’s father, Roger, is the Maineiacs’ head scout.

“Still, they’re pretty secretive about all that stuff,” Zack Shannon said. “I knew that if they got the chance, they might draft me, but I didn’t know anything else about where or anything like that.”

On a day marked by another blockbuster deal, this time only partially affecting the Maineiacs, Lewiston stocked its stable with 15 new players – 10 forwards, four defensemen and one goalie.

“We’re extremely happy with the way our draft went this year,” Maineiacs’ GM and Head Coach Ed Harding said. “We went 4-for-4 on our first four picks in terms of who we wanted.”

The Lewiston Maineiacs are literally becoming quite a family.

Among the draft picks are four players who have played at Roger Shannon’s hockey school in Fredericton, New Brunswick – including son Zack – and the younger brother of another Maineiac, Michael Chaput. Bissonette is the son of a former Maineiacs’ scout.

“We’ve spent long hours doing a lot of research,” Harding said. “We want to be familiar with the players we draft.”

The four skaters from Roger Shannon’s camp all knew each other beforehand.

“We’ve played together since we were, like, seven,” Zack Shannon said.

Last fall, the younger Shannon and Phillips traveled to Lewiston to meet with Maineiacs’ owner Mark Just, Harding and President and Governor Matt McKnight.

“I liked that a lot, going to meet everyone, and I really liked what I saw from the town, too.”

Another big part of being able to lure some of this year’s picks to Lewiston was the team’s education program.

“That was a huge part of it,” Phillips said. “That was a major, major part or wanting to come to Lewiston.”

Lewiston went back to the blue line with its first overall pick, taking Clarke with the sixth pick after trading up to get him. At No. 9, Lewiston went with Chaput, and at No. 14, the Maineiacs snagged 17-year-old Etienne Brodeur.

The only draft in six years in which the Maineiacs picked a defenseman lower than 24th overall was in 2005, when they drafted Jonathan Bernier in Round 1.

In the second round this year, Lewiston swiped Phillips, and in the third grabbed Zack Shannon.

Round 4 brought winger Travis Moore, and the team selected goaltender Jonathan Connelly in the fifth round.

Bissonette and defenseman Dany Coulombe were the Maineiacs’ Round 6 picks.

In Rounds 7-12, Lewiston selected, in order, center Steeven Jacques, winger Justin Cloutier, Max Capuano, Marc-Andre L’Heurault, Jonathan Tower and Brandon Pilgrim.