Reducing the Impulse of a Juice Can

The other day, my friend tossed me a can of juice. Before I could mention that throwing the can was not the best idea considering my slightly incompetent catching skills, she threw the can towards me in a projectile motion. In order to prevent any injury to myself, I caught the can before it hit me and cradled it towards my body. Since J=force*time, cradling the can increased the time of the impulse, and therefore decreased the force felt by my hand to stop the can. If I had held out my hands stiffly or caught the can after it hit my body, I would have felt a stronger force upon impact (ouch). If I knew the mass of the can, speed of the can before it hit my hand, and the time of the impulse, I could calculate the force I felt using the equation J=change in p=force*time. I realized that this situation was similar to the egg catching game because both involved cradling an object to reduce the force of impulse.