Early years Born on May 18, 1971, in
River Falls, Wisconsin, Bye-Dietz played for the River Falls Wildcats Boys High School Hockey team under the name of K.L. Bye to conceal her sex. Although her father encouraged her to continue playing basketball, as she had done growing up, Bye-Dietz continued to play hockey. During the 1987–88 season, she recorded 3 assists in her 18 games playing Junior Varsity Hockey Her athletic ability and play earned her a scholarship to the
University of New Hampshire.
NCAA Bye played for the
New Hampshire Wildcats women's ice hockey program. She scored 164 points in 87 games for the Wildcats, leading the team all four years. As captain of the team during her junior and senior season, she twice led the Wildcats to the
ECAC championships. In 1998, Bye led Team United States to their first Olympic gold medal at the
1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. She led the team with five goals in six games and tied
Cammi Granato and two others for the scoring lead with eight points. She competed with Team USA again at the
2002 Winter Olympics where they won a silver medal. ==Personal==