Ice bath for your crab?

I'm not sure where I read it, but probably on here somewhere, that after boiling your crabs, that it's good to do an ice bath for them and cool them down right away.  I did this for the opener, after boiling my crabs for >10 mins in some salt and OldBay seasoning, I tossed them back into a cooler with 50/50 ice and water and sloshed them around.  You could hear them creaking as they hit the ice bath, and I feel like they were way easier to crack open than I remember.  Re-heating them in the boiling water to eat, and thought they were some of the best crab I've had (probably say that every opener).  Just curious if others do this as well?

i always ice bath. i don't know if it's right or wrong, but it's how I was taught and they're delicious.  I imagine it's too stop the cooking/steaming that must be going on inside the shells.

A couple of years ago, I went on a crab/fish combo on the SeaWolf out of Emeryville. For $20 they cooked and cleaned your crabs for you. They had a huge operation going and included an ice bath. My assumption is that they know what they're doing.

Ice bath or cold water makes the shells easier to crack and stops them from overcooking. Running them over cold water usually does the trick for me

Ice bath or cold water makes the shells easier to crack and stops them from overcooking. Running them over cold water usually does the trick for me

seals in the flavor stops over cooking the crab… extracts the meat a lot easier.

Ice bath or cold water makes the shells easier to crack and stops them from overcooking. Running them over cold water usually does the trick for me

seals in the flavor stops over cooking the crab… extracts the meat a lot easier.

Let me tell you how I know

I guess that I've just been overcooking crab for a long time!    It really seemed like the best crab I've had.   

That’s funny. I first saw it last night watching TLA. Now I’m definitely going to try it!

Always Ice bath after cooking my crabs! I find 10 min cooking works best. Timer starts after I drop the last crab.

Reasons.
1 stop the meat from over cooking.
2 easy cracking shells.
3 meat flavor retained
4 meat dont stick to shells keep the moist.
5 you can eat them right away without hot potato dance 

We do that with tiger shrimp with the head on…. Also. Delicious!!!