Retaliation never pays

I have learned that retaliation never pays, at least in hockey. During one game, I accidentally skated into another player on the opposing team (which should have resulted in a charging penalty.) However, the referee only saw the part where she shoved me back and instead she received a trip to the penalty box (despite screaming at the ref in protest.) In another game, I was rushing the offensive zone during a hard forecheck. While an opposing player and I were both chasing the puck in parallel, I shoved her (due to my excited aggressive state I suppose). She tried to push me back (mostly missing me) and ended up dropping her stick. I'm not trying to gloat about my cunning cleverness, but I did find it amusing that retaliation failed in both cases.