ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Ben Bishop is home.

But the University of Maine’s sophomore goalie and his mates will face an opponent with a good memory Thursday when the Bears and Michigan State square off in their Frozen Four semifinal today at 4 at the Scottrade Center.

The 6-foot-7 Bishop, who is from the St. Louis suburb of Des Peres, will again face off against 5-foot-6 Jeff Lerg.

Bishop won last year’s battle in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals 5-4.

Bishop reiterated that he hasn’t gotten caught up in the homecoming.

“We’re here to win a national championship,” said Bishop.

So is Michigan State.

“I’ve been thinking about Maine for the last 360-plus days,” said MSU sophomore left wing and leading scorer Tim Kennedy.

The Black Bears know solving the talented Lerg won’t be easy. Lerg has a 1.50 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage in NCAA Tournament play.

You would think a small goalie would be vulnerable up high and that’s where the Bears will try to put the puck.

Not so.

“When we’re playing well, we’re putting pucks on the net. We’re hitting the net and generating rebounds,” said Maine senior defenseman and assistant captain Mike Lundin. “The tendency, probably on a smaller goalie, is to try to pick corners. When you do that, you miss the net a lot. We have to resist that urge and continue putting pucks on the net and trying to get in there on the rebounds.”

Lerg finished with 29 saves in last year’s game while Bishop made 33. One of Maine’s goals was an empty-netter.

Maine junior defenseman Travis Ramsey said Lerg is used to dealing with his size issue and it hasn’t prevented him from becoming a top-notch goalie.

“He knows teams will be looking to shoot high on him,” said Ramsey. “The best thing for us is to stick to the game plan, get shots on net and look for rebounds like we usually do.”

Lerg remembers last year’s game well and said the Bears pose specific problems for a goalie.

“They have players who are really skilled with their sticks,” said Lerg, who felt he was well-positioned only to see the Bear forwards “tip the puck to the other side of me. They make smart plays.”

Lerg and Bishop have played against each other throughout their careers and got to know each other at a camp when they were teenagers.

“We were good friends out at a Smack 15 Festival and we’d talk a lot on the ice. I didn’t know we’d be playing against each other in the NCAA Tournament year after year. We talk every now and then. He’s doing well, keeping that team together. He’s a very good goalie and he’s shown that throughout the year. It’s going to be a real tough battle, but I feel if I can outplay him and do all the little things right, I have confidence in the team [that we’ll come out with a win].”

Bishop will have his hands full with a Michigan State team that has scored 14 goals in its last three games.

“They’re the type of team that likes to throw the puck to the net and create rebounds,” said Bishop. “You have to be ready for anything.”

Michigan State right wing Chris Lawrence said the Spartans will need to get traffic in front of Bishop and “get him moving side to side.”

Lundin compared the Spartans to Boston College.

“They’re real aggressive on the forecheck and penalty-killing,” said Lundin.

“They’re a real good offensive team,” said Maine freshman right wing Teddy Purcell. “They’re a physical team with a great goaltender. The fact he’s 5-foot-6 doesn’t change anything. We’ve got to try to make it difficult. We’ve got to get in front of his eyes. He’s real athletic. He works hard.”

Ramsey noted, “They’re really well-balanced between checking lines and really skilled lines. Their defensemen are solid as well.”

Maine senior center and captain Michel Leveille noted that the Bears have to worry about defense first.

“It seems like they really have some speed up front,” said Leveille. “There’s no mystery. We want to play well defensively, create that bubble in front of Ben and establish our position from there. We definitely want to do that well.”

Michigan State knows it can’t afford to dig itself a 3-0 hole like it did in the first period of last year’s game.

“After watching them beat Harvard [6-1], I think we were scared of them,” said Kennedy.

“We have to come out of the gates better,” said MSU junior left wing and leading goal scorer Bryan Lerg, Jeff’s cousin. “When you get down 3-0 like that, it’s tough.”

Jeff Lerg said, “They came out really hard and we were back on our heels a bit. We have to make sure we play a full 60 minutes against them.”

Bryan Lerg also said the Spartans have to find a way to “shut down Maine’s power play,” which is operating at a nation’s best 25.7 percent.

Lawrence said it will also be helpful “to stay out of the box against them.”

He said the Spartans, Bears, Boston University, and Notre Dame are very similar teams and having played Boston University and Notre Dame in the Midwest Regional should help them against Maine.

Maine’s power play enters the game on a roll. The Bears have nine power-play goals in their last 30 chances over the last five games. Maine has scored two power-play goals in seven of its last nine games (15-for-56 overall).

The Spartans have been outstanding on the penalty kill (87 percent success rate) and will put a lot of pressure on Maine’s point men.

“We’ll need to move puck a lot quicker than we have been,” said Lundin. “We’ve had a great week of practice on the power play, building on the success we’ve had this year. It feels better than ever right now.”

The Spartans expect to have extra motivation, but Lawrence said they have plenty of respect for Maine.

“Their program is obviously outstanding. In all the big games, Maine shows up. They lost four in a row to UMass, but here they are at the Frozen Four,” said Lawrence.